Dear Mary: How can a person finance her education without taking out loans? I need to get a master’s degree, as I have hit a ceiling, but I don’t have $40,000 and don’t want to take out loans. Will schools offering graduate programs allow me to move slowly and pay as I go? I just don’t feel like there is a choice, and it’s stopping me from getting my education. —Ana
Dear Ana: Do you need a master’s degree, or do you want one? Here’s the difference: Let’s say you are a teacher with a contract in a school district that gives an automatic pay increase once you receive your master’s degree. In that case—and provided the monthly payment on the total student debt will not exceed the net salary increase, which you can easily project—I would have no problem with you getting your degree using student loans, because you have a reasonable expectation that you will be able to repay that loan (which, by the way, is Rule No. 7 in my book, “7 Money Rules for Life”).
