<prompt> Human: UPDATE original post begins in 3rd paragraph if you want to skip this: Ive gotten a lot of great advice from everyone and I sincerely appreciate it. Im going to push my fiancé to get a job now instead of spending more money to finish his MSW. Sounds like getting this degree wont get him much higher of an income anyways and I think he has been overly optimistic andor lying to himself me about his earning potential as a licensed social worker.Ive also gotten a lot of advice to NOT marry him or combine my finances with him. The problem is that I love this man and am not going be able to stop just because he has financial issues, plus Im having a baby with him which automatically means at least some finances will have to be combined. Is it possible to marry while keeping finances legally separated? I.e. If we file separate tax returns and sign a prenup? I do know that regardless of what the law is as long as I am married to him his debt will be something that I have to deal with.---Original post:My fiance 29M and I 28F have recently begun to discuss combining our finances because in addition to getting married we also have a baby on the way unplanned.I am in a decent place financially. I make 80k pre-tax, have zero debt of any kind, and have about 8k in savings.My fiancé is getting his masters degree in social work MSW and currently doing an internship that pays him about 400week, but this ends in 3 weeks, at which point he will not bring in any income. He has 150k in debt from student loans as well as 5k in credit card debt. My fiance was supposed to finish his degree in June, but because of personal issues that required him to take a disability leave he did not. His only option to finish his degree is to re-take the semester next year and accrue another 40k in student loans. He has a bachelors degree in social work, but has found that it is difficult to get a decent-paying job in his field without a masters degree and licensing as a clinical social worker. Getting this degree will double or triple his earning potential, and without that increased income I have a hard time seeing how we can live comfortably, do the things we want in life, and pay off his loans.Since our finances will soon be combined I have a couple of questions that I could use some guidance on:1.From a financial perspective, is it worth it for my fiancé to finish getting his degree even though it means another 40k in debt? I am really torn on this onebecause if he becomes a licensed clinical social worker he will have plenty of job opportunities and could eventually start a private practice earning 150k. With only his current degree and lack of substantial work experience I have a hard time seeing him earning much more than 40k in the next 5-10 years. Additionally, about 100k of that debt went toward his masters degree, so not finishing would mean we will spend the next 20 years paying off 100k that got him nothing in return.2.I know it is possible to get an income based repayment plan for student loans, but since we will be married and I will be paying off a large portion of his loans will that be calculated based on our joint income or his alone?I probably have a million more questions but those are the big ones. Thanks.  <response>: Honestly I wouldnt marry in that situation. His debts are huge and he doesnt seem very engaged in minimising them. There are lots of bad choices happening there and you need to consider how much maternity leave you can afford since you decided to go ahead with the pregnancy. Wait until he finds a decent job and he proves he actually wants to contribute to your life together and then marry him. 