<prompt> Human: Dear rpersonalfinance,I have been dating a girl for a little over two years now. We are both in grad school, studying architecture, and will be graduating next May 2017. Heres the short of it:I will graduate with absolutely zero student debt, thanks to scholarships and my parents saving paying for my education. I have a pretty decent Roth IRA going with full contributions the last three years. Im generally good with my money and try to live frugally. Im highly motivated in my field, and while architects arent compensated like STEM professionals, those with a strong work ethic and the ability to manage peopleprojects can rise fast inside a firm - thats definitely me. My girlfriend definitely does not have that killer instinct friends description, not my own that would lead to a well compensated position. Shes pretty okay with just going with the flow of life and seeing where it takes her. Its both incredibly attractive and equally terrifying.She will graduate with over 90,000 of student debt. They are all private loans with Sallie Mae, some with interest rates as high as 12. And I have absolutely no idea how to handle that. So this is really a cry for advice and help, both financially and personally. How would you handle this situation? Has anyone else on here married into this kind of debt? Is it even possible to pay it off jointly in time for us to start saving before maybe having kids contributing to retirement in time? Just to add more potential variables to the discussion, as a couple, we would make around 80-90k a year for the first five years before taxes. Im here to listen and desperate for any advice you can give me. Thank you in advance!EDIT: I should add too that we arent engaged and dont yet have plans to be, but have certainly talked about a future together. Assistant: Serious suggestion:After marriage, see about cosigning and refinancing. If your credit is good and youll be married anyway, you can take on the debt jointly and possibly knocking the interest way down. If you dont want to do the whole thing, maybe the loans past a certain amount of interest. Human: Awesome, thanks! I had a lot of trouble finding solutions to private loans as opposed to federal, where there seems to be a lot of options, and I wasnt aware that a cosigner could be added. Makes total sense though, why wouldnt a loan agent want more collateral, ya know?  <response>: Just make sure you are willing to pay for her entire debt no matter what before cosigning. Divorce, laziness on her part,... no matter what. 