I know at least 3 people in their 60s with debt for graduate or professional school student loans. One of them has about $250,000. He decided many years ago to not make more than $40,000-50,000 per year and also decided to not pay back the loans. Second person has been unemployed for two years but would like to return to work, if she can find a job. Third person was laid off from an engineering job when he was in his 40s, went back to school to get a master’s degree, became a teacher, went back to school for a Ph.D., and now is a tenure-track professor at a public university. In my mind, only the third person’s debt was worth incurring.