<prompt> Human: Hello,This is my first post. Sorry if it is long, and please only serious answers. Perhaps I am worrying too much, or maybe not enough. When I was entering college, I feel that I made a poor decision to study at an out of state school, which to date has put me at 49,000 in debt. Now that I realize I would be well over 100,000 when I graduate, I have decided to transfer in state to finish my degree, which will put me between 70-80k when I graduate, perhaps less depending on financial aid. I have calculated that my monthly payment out of school will be between 700 and 1000 dollars a month.I am losing sleep over the fact that I took out way too much loans and I feel like I may have ruined my chances at living a happy life. I am going for a Mechanical Engineering Technology degree which the average salary is 52,000, but my boss at the engineering company I work at now believes I can work my way up to above 65-85k shortly after graduating depending on where I end up and how the company is doing. I know this is wishful thinking but I think it is possible.Does anyone have any advice? I have a credit card that I use only for gas, so I have great credit so far. Does it seem possible for me to ever save money in life? Buy a house? I feel like I am screwed and I feel so stupid. Thanks in advance.  <response>: You didnt screw yourself over. You chose a good field to study, me thinks. Also, I hope you really like it?I can imagine that if you hadnt gone to college at all, you would end up with a job that pays say 2kmonth after taxes. Now, you will have a job that pays roughly 3.5kmonth after taxes at least. For the first few years, that extra 1.5kmonth will go to paying back your debts. If you truly apply yourself to it and put 18kyear towards your 75k of debts, then youll be debtfree within roughly 5 years see . After those five years, you will enjoy your increased salary compared to not going to college, plus youll probably enjoy your job more than if you had that job that doesnt require a college degree. You might have been able to do better than this, and it will ask some sacrifices of you in the next few years, but you didnt mess up completely. There is a lot of hope. The future is bright. 