<prompt> Human: TLDR; Future-wife is getting her Masters degree to the tune of 62k of student debt. I have zero student debt, a house, great paying job, and am very financially secure. How do I lessen this financial impact once we tie the knot and she finishes school? nbsp; Okay, so for the full details. Myself: Mechanical engineer, make about 85kyr. before taxes. Zero student loans. Have a car loan thats got an 8k balance left. House with a mortgage. No credit card debt. Over the past 3 years in my job Ive put away about 25k in my 401k, Ive got 13k in a liquid savings account as my emergency fund. I got to where Im at because I did ROTC along with my engineering degree in college which covered just about all my college expenses. Ive always kept things pretty frugal because I had to find my own way to pay for college as my parents paid nothing for me. nbsp; Fiancee: Has a bachelors in early childhood education. Didnt really end up doing much with it but was a full-time nanny when we met making decent money. Just as we met she was getting out of a divorce and decided to go back to school to get her Masters in psychology. Obviously at this point in our relationship things were brand new so I didnt know the details of what her plan was for this. As we were talking about getting engaged we started to bring up the details of money and her school, and thats when I found out that she paying for her entire Masters through student loans and that it was a decent amount of money; I kick myself for not paying closer attention at the time but hindsight is 2020. Now here we are, engaged and set to be married in June and the talks about finances are getting a lot more serious. It wasnt until the other night that I sat her down to talk about money and exactly what school was costing her and what her plan was when I learned that she didnt really have a plan, or a good idea of employment prospects when she gets her degree. nbsp; She was under the impression, somehow, that shed be able to find a job making around 60kyr. easily once she graduated as a LMHP licensed mental health professional, but after doing the research myself and looking at the job market around us, shell be lucky to find somewhere that pays closer to 35-40k. Her school is roughly 10k a semester, just for tuition, which when I think about it now is completely absurd but shes already 2 years in and has a year left in the program so I doubt I could convince her now to try and change things to find a cheaper program. The total amount of student loans shes looking at is going to be just over 62,000, at 5.9. On top of this she has a car that she still owes 12k on. nbsp; Currently she is working while shes in school part-time as a nanny, about 24 hours a week, so shes contributing enough to cover her own expenses plus an additional amount to allow us to put away a minimum of 1k in savings every month this is aside from my current retirement contributions. Ive been going crazy lately not trying to imagine this huge looming debt thats coming on the horizon that ultimately Ill have to shoulder the burden for. I hate the idea of student loans which is why I worked so hard to make sure I didnt end up with any. On the reverse side, her grandparents paid for her bachelors degree outright so she hasnt had to deal with this before and doesnt quite understand the gravity of student debt. nbsp; While obviously a lot of this boils down to working out our own relationship, from a financial perspective: whats the best course of action to tackle this debt before it comes slamming head-first into our budget in a year? Should I try and cover all my expenses myself and try and have her put all the extra money she makes towards the loans now? This would seriously reduce the amount Id be able to apply to savings every month. I also dont know the implications of paying off student loans early because I havent had to deal with them. Is it even worth it at this point for her to try and put a dent in them while shes still in school, or should we just try and get ourselves financially lined up as well as we can with a strong e-fund so its not that hard of a hit once she has to start making payments? Id hate for this to be such a huge wedge in our relationship but the anxiety of thinking about me shouldering her poor planning is driving me crazy, and if I had some sort of good plan to deal with it before she finished school Id feel much better about it. We had talked about the idea of kids when she finished school but with the way things are looking, I cant even imagine trying to add that to the mix until her debt is paid off. Am I worrying about this too much, will we be okay if she just gets a job and pays it off over time like most people do? nbsp; Help?Assistant: Dont worry about it. Its her debt. Let her pay it. 60k isnt exactly world ending. Keep your income and accounts separate until its paid off. You will pay for rent, food, utilities, etc. She will commit the majority of her paycheck to her loans. With this setup, she can realistically pay it off in 2-3 years. This way, if you end up in a divorce, you really arent out all that much. You never have to be responsible for her loans. You will still be out the difference between half your incomes for the duration of the marriage communal property, but that is the same level of risk you would absorb if there were no loans. If you stay married, itll be worth it to have set it up this way. Yeah, your communal wealth will be worth a bunch less, but youll be married to someone you love.Human: Would it be entirely unreasonable to keep the house in my name only until she has her debt paid off entirely? Assistant: I just want to present another viewpoint too. Lets say you follow this its her debt method. Fine. Its her debt. Let her scrimp and save to pay it off, because you cant take part of that degree if you get divorced, so sure. Her debt.Do you also plan on enjoying the fruits of her labor when she graduates and gets a high-paying job? Because if my husband made me keep my school debts to myself, I sure wouldnt want to share any extra income or financial security with him...and thats a pretty shit way to start a marriage as Bokbreath so much more eloquently put it down below. Human: Well, to be fair to myself, right now she is enjoying the fruits of my labor thats a result of everything that Ive worked hard for. My careful planning, foresight, and absolute nose-to-the-grindstone backbreaking work that I applied myself to for years to get to where Im at. Meanwhile, I get told Im supposed to blindly support her while she goes forward with this terrible debt-inducing plan on a whimsy without considering the impact it would have on us.  <response>: Currently she is working while shes in school part-time as a nanny, about 24 hours a week, so shes contributing enough to cover her own expenses plus an additional amount to allow us to put away a minimum of 1k in savings every month this is aside from my current retirement contributions. So in the OP shes paying for herself, in this comment suddenly shes a leech. Id recommend couples counseling before marriage. Make sure you discuss your financial situations because you clearly are not going to be able to move past them. 