<prompt> Human: My son is an adventurous bright person who is pretty responsible overall. Recently he decided to take a hiatus from college, he only has about a year left, he is 22. He took a year off from school and saved up about 17k. He plans on travelling the world for a year on this saved money. He has about 12k in student debt and I am estimating around another 5k for his last year in school. He has been making small payments on his loans and plans to continue to do so when he travels. Wouldnt it be smarter for him to pay off his debts and graduate before doing any of this? I am worried that he will never have another opportunity to pay off all his debts in one lump sum.  <response>: This adventure sounds like its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.My honest vote is he should go for it. 