<prompt> Human: Hey all.My fiancé and I are about to tie the knot in about 3 months, and Im taking another look at our personal finances. I myself have no debt, and about 75K in a Roth IRA, so Im in a solid state, but am not actively saving, as Im paying my way through a masters degree thats about 1.5 years from being done.My fiancée on the other hand is nearing completion of her doctorate in microbiology, and is carrying about 130K in student loans, which is pretty extreme. When she graduates, shes hoping to go into collegiate education, or science outreach, looking at between a 60K-80K a year job, provided she can find one. Together, we make about 60K a year, maybe a touch more, and once the wedding is done, well be saving about 1K a month, if we dont change anything. Im pushing for a proper job in my field IT that pays about what Im worth, but at the moment, doing temp work. The trouble is, since were stuck in our current location until Im done with school, if my fiancée cant find a job, or I cant find something with better pay here, I feel like were in a potentially dire situation.Does anyone have any advice on a good approach to tackling this debt? Edit: To those who are thinking of posting a Dont marry her ZOMG debt poison! please dont bother, thats not an option on the table.Assistant: She cant be too choosey. Shell need a job to tide her over before you can move. Also lentils.Human: Alternatively, she could get a job and live separately until OP finishes their degree.Being unwilling to move for academic positions is a career-killer even for a short time period.Assistant: Exactly this. The husband will need to realize that for her career he will need to be willing to move. Otherwise her career is basically resting on the slim chance of finding the perfect position in her current location. Human: The husband already knows that. ;P My degree and field is super mobile, being in web development and system design, I can go just about anywhere. Were struggling with the thought of moving, as we love the town and community we live in, and its distance from our respective families 1.5 hours from both, not too far, not too close.Weve accepted that we may have to move, though. The problem is me; my degree is not mobile, at least until I start working on my masters project, and even then Im not sure how mobile it will be. The other option is dropping the masters, but having already put about 15K into it, and being about 70 done, Im hesitant to do that.Assistant: But have you considered living apart for a while? You stay there and finish your degree, she moves elsewhere and gets a higher paying job? It would suck, dont get me wrong. But if she could get a job in a different location that pays enough more to cover the additional cost of living increase and then some, then it would be worth it, at least financially. It would suck for a year and a half, but youve got your whole lives ahead of you.Human: Its not come up, and yeah, itd suck. Im not sure the sacrifice there would be worth the financial hardships it might relieve. Shouldnt rule it out, I suppose.Assistant: Youre going to wreck the value of her degree if you dont let her be mobile right away.Human: Its not just me holding her back, or at least, its not just me keeping her chained down while she struggles to be free and find work. Shes not at all the sort that would want to live apart, or at least, has never brought it up when weve talked about trouble in finding jobs post-graduation. If shes going to get a job out of the area and for me to follow along, I give up my masters. Otherwise, she stays put, and looks for work here, or we split up for 1.5-ish years.Youll have to excuse me for not being super excited about this line of reasoning.  <response>: My brother-in-law has a PhD in a hard science. He has lived all over the world. He and his fiancee currently live on different continents. And have for the last 3 years. Thats the life of post-docs. She can not take a non-academic job except for research jobs, maybe out of school and ever hope to return. She and you need to face up to the realities of her career field. 