>I also made my way through grad school as a TA, no loans. Figured that it
>was insane to borrow money to get a PhD in philosophy. I knew people who
>ran up $30,000-$80,000 in debt--this was 10, 15 years ago, when that was
>more than it is now. Thought they were nuts.
I memory serves, a few years ago the National Lawyers Guild estimated that average law student debt was $60k - which forced most graduates to seek high paying jobs in the corporate sector to stay afloat. That pissed the NLG off because it steered lawyers away from work in less lucrative fields, such as immigration or labor law.
I ended up with the meager $23k in student loans - which I am still paying back, and over three times as much in credit card debt shared with my ex - which I unloaded via Chapter 7. Most of it went to housing and living expenses. I would imagine that this is the norm - since tuition in public schools is not that high to begin with, and is often reduced via grants and other forms of aid.
wojtek