Not About the Payoff: The World Was Not My Oyster

Welcome to the next installment of Not About the Payoff, where guest authors explore their connections between student loans and emotional health. Previously, FOGA and Greta shared their story, and today, Wendy Lee from Wanderlust Wendy.

It was 2012. I graduated with a master’s degree in public administration from two world-renown institutions. At 25 years old, I already had a plethora of international experiences, including a two-year stint in Cameroon with the Peace Corps. My professional experiences crossed between the private and public sectors. On paper, the world was my oyster. Everyone told me so. The caveat, however, was $120K worth of student loans to my name. 

The world was not my oyster. I needed $120K to open the said oyster. 

Education as a Means to Money-Making End

I spent two years learning about conducting a cost-benefit analysis on public programs, yet the irony was no one taught me to apply this same exercise on my education. Although I suppose by the time I was sitting in these classrooms, tuition had become a sunk cost. Too little too late. 

Growing up, I was taught that education is the golden ticket for upward mobility. Study hard + go to a well-known school = a high-paying job. I followed this equation and was comfortable taking on student loans. After all, it’s an investment for my future. 

But the key variable missing in this popular equation?Career interest. This path assumes the individual will take any high-paying job available, regardless of industry. Some fields pay better than others, so I structured my degree and coursework to money-adjacent areas. I have a finance background, and that field makes money; I took classes related to finance even though I did not love it. 

Hindsight is 20/20, and nearly a decade after I began the degree, I look back and realize I spent nearly a hundred thousand dollars to take classes I didn’t like, to get a job I didn’t love, all to pay for this degree. 

Was it worth it? I get asked often, and I shudder to answer. I certainly derived many positive benefits, but if I could do it over, I likely would have done it differently. One thing for sure, I would have taken classes I truly enjoyed instead of trying to tailor to a future interview. Turns out, no one cares what classes I took to get my degrees. 

Education as a Means to a Meaningful Life

I still strongly believe that education is a key to social mobility, but the conversation needs to shift from education as a means to a money-making end toward education as a tool to create value for society. If we can find ways to add value to the world, in whatever field that we find interest, we can parlay that value into earning a decent income. 

The old equation should be modified to study hard + learn your unique value-add to the world = a meaningful life. Removing the focus from  a high-paying job could eliminate the current mindset that education is a debt-worthy investment to get that high salary. Students could have more freedom to decide how to obtain their education and acquire the skills and knowledge needed to create value. Not all fields yield a high-paying job, but every field can lead to a meaningful life. 

Debt Repayment Before Career Interest

I learned the world was not my oyster when searching for full-time employment. The student loan burden was constantly on my mind. I wanted to work in sustainable development, yet at a junior level, these positions seldom pay well. Perhaps I was selfish or had a lower tolerance for debt than others, but I simply couldn’t focus on serving the world when I had a massive debt burden. 

I admire friends and classmates who went into public service despite the hefty student loan burden. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was already available while we were in grad school. Many took the option. The deal is that one would enter public service, make qualifying payments for 10 years, and the government picks up the rest. I didn’t have faith in my commitment toward the limiting definition of public service – what if I hated my job? What if I want to live abroad again? Nor did I trust the government much – what if the program falters? 

My student loans, were an invisible life tumor. Abenign one that didn’t cause any immediate harm, but I still wanted it removed as soon as possible. I didn’t want my loans to linger, and the idea that it would hang over my head for at least ten years was too much stress. I wanted the freedom to be debt-free more than pursuing my career interest. 

In the end, instead of pursuing a career that I had spent $100K to train, I turned to the private sector, got a job that did not require my advanced degree. With the help of a little geoarbitrage and a commitment to rid my debt, I turned my negative net worth positive in three years. The tumor was removed, but am I better for it? 

Starting Over Mid-Career

Seven years after I graduated, I have now paid off debt and garnered enough financial freedom to tap back into my career interest. I look at classmates who have gained experiences and rose through the ranks, and I sometimes wonder if I would have been fine to simply let debt ride its course. Similarly, I see friends who didn’t pursue an advanced degree and simply get jobs they loved, endured the initial low pay and long hours, but have now excelled. What if I didn’t follow the popular equation and gained experiences instead? 

So many what-ifs, but it’s not too late. I try not to dwell too much on whether the degree was worth the money. We all make decisions with the information we have at the moment in time. Despite that sunk cost, the dots in my career have connected, and life has taken me to many unexpected places. We are never too old to start over, mid-career or later. Each experience, whether on the intended path or not, provides us with valuable transferable skills. 

Today, the world is finally my oyster. The sustainable development landscape has changed a great deal over the last decade. I am spending time on free resources like EdX to gain new industry knowledge and familiarize with the latest conversations. My attitude towards learning is now for the sake of acquiring new knowledge to adapt to our ever-changing world. Education is a life-long endeavor, and one much easier to sustain when the end goal is not to yield a high-paying job, but to contribute to this world and live a meaningful life.

Wendy is a Taiwanese-American writer currently based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Her blog, Wanderlust Wendy, chronicles her decade-long international experiences spanning from the Peace Corps in Cameroon, to corporate life in Shanghai (a move that allowed her to pay off $120k of student debt). She explores her global identity and writes about travel, simple living, and financial freedom. When not putting thoughts into words, Wendy captures everyday beauty through photography.