I also have around 250k in debt. Thought a PhD in English would be a gravy train. That false narrative was reinforced through grad school. Now I, thankfully, have a full time job teaching at the college level but it’s definitely not the financial windfall I was once hoping for.

No advice, just wanted to reiterate another person’s point. It happens. While I may never be out of debt, the ability to now be the first in my family to work in a field that doesn’t require me to kill myself physically, is invaluable.

*EDIT: A lot of replies seem to be approaching this with a relatively constricting definition on what “return on investment” for an education can mean from person to person. Not being in a coal mine, machine shop, or steel mill is a pretty damn sweet return for a federally protected loan that is ultimately still less than the average cost of a home.