# Would you marry someone who is $150,000 in debt?



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Would you marry someone who is $150,000 in debt? This is supposing that they majored (or have a master's) in something that would not normally lead to a high income. Why or why not? How much debt would be too much for you?

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/16/156736915/call-me-maybe-when-your-school-loan-is-paid-in-full












> The increasing debt load of college graduates has affected young people's lives in untold ways, from career choices to living arrangements. Now add another impact on a key part of young adult life: dating and marriage.
> 
> Rachel Bingham, an art teacher in Portland, Maine, learned this a few years back, when a guy broke it off after four months of a budding relationship. Among other reasons, he cited her $80,000 in student loan debt.
> 
> ...


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## Double Indemnity (Aug 15, 2011)

No. I don't want to take on anyone's debt. $150K for a degree that doesn't pay well is a really stupid position to put yourself in.


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## Black And Mild (Apr 11, 2011)

Haha...What I look like? 

Hell no


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## Luna Sea (Apr 4, 2012)

Double Indemnity said:


> $150K for a degree that doesn't pay well is a really stupid position to put yourself in.


With this in mind, I'd be concerned about whether they're responsible enough for me to want to marry them. If I really wanted to spend the rest of my life with them, and they'd shown they weren't an idiot with money and were paying it back steadily, I'd still marry them though.


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## Just Lurking (Feb 8, 2007)

It wouldn't be so much about the number as what it is she's doing about the debt. 

There would need to be some kind of (realistic + secure) plan to pay it off - something that doesn't involve being financially crippled for 20-30 years.


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## successful (Mar 21, 2009)

Lol nope, Never understood why people wasted so much on a degree..


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## aloneanddizzy (Jul 1, 2012)

Sorry to say the answer is "no", even for someone as desperate as me. If someone got themselves into that deep a hole without a reasonable plan to get out, sadly they are in for some serious bumps in their life. I've worked too hard to get at least a little bit ahead, and wouldn't want to get myself into a situation which would destroy that.

Of course if she was smart she'd have avoided me anyway, because marrying into chronic health problems isn't any better of an idea than is marrying into debt. And everything I've done to get ahead might end up being spent on dealing with my health anyway.


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## Jollygoggles (Mar 3, 2011)

*gets down on one knee at restaurant*
"Will you, Julia..."
:-o
"...do me the honour..."
:-O
*takes ring from pocket*
:-D
"...of ruining my credit rating."
:-D YES! YES! YES!


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## straightarrows (Jun 18, 2010)

Yes!!but won't pay a cent!!....... thought Americans r evils who don't pay a cent!! lolo sorry!


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## mdiada (Jun 18, 2012)

No, absolutely not. His debt would become my debt, and debt itself stresses me out to the max. So nope. He'd have to pay it off completely before I would even consider marrying him.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Well, most people probably won't tell you until you were deep into the relationship. That's often how it goes with negative things that can be kept hidden. And the average amount of student debt is about $25,000.


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## Meli24R (Dec 9, 2008)

No, but marriage isn't important to me anyways


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## Classified (Dec 7, 2004)

Only if I was a multimillionaire. I would still question how she got into that much debt and isn't a doctor.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Classified said:


> Only if I was a multimillionaire. I would still question how she got into that much debt and isn't a doctor.


For that much it generally has to be private loans or they were in school for a long time. The federal loans have caps. The max you can borrow for undergrads is $31,000 for dependent students and $57,000 for independent students. For grad students it's $65,000 and $138,000. I read that the worst ones are people who go to private for-profit universities.

http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloan.phtml


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## Zeeshan (Sep 4, 2011)

Yes, if i fell in love with her i would.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

For comparison the cost to raise one child till 18 years old is $235,000.


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

Not unless she agreed to sign a prenup agreeing not to hold me responsible for any of it.


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## Witan (Jun 13, 2009)

Sorry, but no way. Once you're married, everything is shared, including debt. Even if you get divorced, you get half the debt. I wouldn't risk it. I already have $16K in student loans to pay off.



Double Indemnity said:


> $150K for a degree that doesn't pay well is a really stupid position to put yourself in.





TristanS said:


> With this in mind, I'd be concerned about whether they're responsible enough for me to want to marry them.





successful said:


> Lol nope, Never understood why people wasted so much on a degree..


I don't think this is fair. Most of us went to college because we were told that it *was* the responsible thing to do, that a college degree was the only way to a middle class life, and that if we didn't go to college then we would never rise above flipping burgers at McDonalds. That's *literally* what we were told. That's what was pounded into us again and again during high school. Now, once we graduate and try to enter the job market, we find out that we were basically lied to....*we're* the ones flipping burgers at McDonalds for minimum wage (if we're lucky enough to have a job at all) while our salaried boss is one of our former high school classmates who never went to college :stu


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## Jinxx (May 10, 2011)

Hell no.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

successful said:


> Lol nope, Never understood why people wasted so much on a degree..


But Obama said a college degree is a wonderful thing. He failed to mention there is a huge difference between a degree in engineering, which can land a good job, and a degree in philosophy which will qualify you to work at Starbucks as you deeply ponder why you got such a worthless degree.


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## Earl of Lemongrab (May 15, 2012)

UltraShy said:


> But Obama said a college degree is a wonderful thing. He failed to mention there is a huge difference between a degree in engineering, which can land a good job, and a degree in philosophy which will qualify you to work at Starbucks as you deeply ponder why you got such a worthless degree.


I dunno, didn't Obama get his degree in law?
Perhaps we should take after countries like China's example, where instead of politicians they have scientists running the place. A technocracy, if you will.


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## CrimsonTrigger (Jun 28, 2011)

Probably not.


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

trisquel said:


> I dunno, didn't Obama get his degree in law?
> Perhaps we should take after countries like China's example, where instead of politicians they have scientists running the place. A technocracy, if you will.


You really think the Communist government is not in charge in China? Watch how fast one of those scientists is thrown in prison (or worse) if they get out of line.


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

successful said:


> Lol nope, Never understood why people wasted so much on a degree..


There was a time when only a small percentage of the population had a college degree and those lucky enough to have one could basically name their salary as companies tried to outbid each other for their services. Those days are gone. So many people have degrees now that their value has diminshed greatly. Used to be that a Master's was the ticket to riches. Now that's even becoming less valuable. Unless your a doctor or an engineer you're just not guaranteed a big salary anymore.


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## Earl of Lemongrab (May 15, 2012)

Cletis said:


> Unless your a doctor or an engineer you're just not guaranteed a big salary anymore.


What about a business executive or lawyer?


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## BKrakow (Jul 8, 2010)

**** no. I wouldn't necessarily discount a relationship altogether if the guy was at least being responsible and doing what he could to pay it off. I mean, I'm in student loan debt too after all (though not nearly that much thank the lord). but definitely wouldn't be willing to legally merge my finances until he sorted that mess out.


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## Elixir (Jun 19, 2012)

No. That's too too much


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## blue the puppy (Jul 23, 2011)

probably not. i have much, _much_ less debt than that and it still drives me batty. so i couldn't imagine having that much.


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## Shauna The Dead (Jun 16, 2005)

Nope. Their debt becomes my debt if we married. I'm not in debt. So no.


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## Witan (Jun 13, 2009)

UltraShy said:


> But Obama said a college degree is a wonderful thing. He failed to mention there is a huge difference between a degree in engineering, which can land a good job, and a degree in philosophy which will qualify you to work at Starbucks as you deeply ponder why you got such a worthless degree.


This didn't start with Obama.


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

trisquel said:


> What about a business executive or lawyer?


 Lawyers and executives are a dime a dozen. If you're talented you can do well, however.


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## Genetic Garbage (May 7, 2011)

Stuff like this is why I am glad that there are no tuition fees where I live. I don't even want to imagine being 150.000 in debt.

To answer the question, no I wouldn't but debt has nothing to do with it.


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## iamwhoiam (May 14, 2012)

I had to vote 'no' because there wasn't a _'hell no!'_ button.


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## Hello22 (Feb 10, 2010)

I'm not too pushed on the idea of marriage anyway, but no i wouldn't marry someone with crippling debt like that. I'd still stay in a relationship with them (if i was really in love), but marriage would be out of the question. Marriage is a legal entity, and with that comes repercussions with sharing debt, assets and all other sorts of financial stuff.

As some poster said already, i've come along way since my poorer college years, and i am now more than happy with my financial situation, through working hard and earning a wage. I would not throw that away for anyone's debt.


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## Invisiblehandicap (Jul 31, 2011)

No...That is too much debt to have on a student loan, where there is no decent job that they can get into. It makes sense, if they have to work a few years to get into a better job, but not if they end up in the same position as they were without university education.


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## anti-socialsocialite (May 1, 2011)

Prenup ftw.


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## Oasis-of-Reason (Oct 15, 2011)

Yes yes yes I would. If I wanted to marry her I'd jump right into as much debt as possible with her. I don't care i'd be as poor as i can be if it meant i was with her. If someone doesn't want to marry me because I'm $150,000 in debt they can go **** themselves because by that I don't want to marry them either.


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## scriabin221 (Nov 16, 2008)

I will probably be one of those people too, so **** it.


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## Oasis-of-Reason (Oct 15, 2011)

if i was billionaire id trade in for her and a card board box any ****in day. debt odnt mean nohing when it comes to this


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## hrnmhmm (Feb 23, 2012)

Why do you people want to marry in the first place? Is marriage not considerably more weighty than a $150,000 commitment?


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## WinterDave (Dec 5, 2003)

If the girl was: 
1-beautiful
2-had a great personality
3-I loved her completely
4-she would always be loyal and faithful to me/never leave me
5-she would become fiscally prudent other than the 150K student debt

then yes....


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## fonz (Oct 15, 2008)

Maybe - if one of us had a great,high paying job


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## SPC (May 14, 2011)

if they had a great plan to get rid of that debt independently, that would likely convince me to overlook it. if_ i_ am the plan to get rid of the debt, then nah.


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## mike285 (Aug 21, 2010)

It depends how they acquired that debt. If it resulted from like school or something, then I wouldn't write someone off for that, especially if it were leading to a job with a high income . I'd want to get married though when both of us have more stability in our lives.


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## alte (Sep 4, 2010)

Repaying 150,000 in 10 years at current student interest rates would mean a monthly payment of about 2000-2500.


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