Yahoo Finance 'These are disturbing numbers': A 59-year-old woman with 3 degrees and $258K in student debt called Dave Ramsey for help — here's the brutally honest advice he offered
If you’re a graduate of higher education, you should have an easy time finding employment and making more money.
At least that’s how it’s supposed to be.
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But for millions of Americans, the debt that comes with going to college can weigh down their ascent to a better life, sometimes for decades. In the case of a Virginia woman who called into The Ramsey Show seeking help, this burden covers multiple generations.
“I’m currently working two jobs to make ends meet,” Larhonda, 59, told host Dave Ramsey. “I currently owe $258,000 in student loans. Is there any way I can make that go away?”
That $258,000 in loans wasn’t just from one degree. Larhonda explained that not only did she pay for herself to obtain three degrees, she also paid for her son’s tuition through a Parent PLUS Loan.
Despite earning three degrees, she says she’s had a hard time making ends meet and paying off her debts. She has a multidisciplinary studies degree (criminal justice and religion), a master’s degree in accounting and a master’s in divinity.
Even after gaining those three degrees, Larhonda stated she’s working in logistics, making around $60,000 per year.
“These are disturbing numbers at 59 years old,” Ramsey said. “The answer to your question is, ‘We have to make more money.’ And we have not monetized your knowledge base very well.”
Time for a new job?
The first thing Ramsey suggested was for Larhonda to better monetize her education — in other words, look for a new job. He claimed most people with a masters in accountanting make $100,000 to $125,000 a year as a starting salary. However, those figures might be off, with ZipRecruiter showing accountants on average make over $68,000 in the U.S. as of December 2023. In Virginia, the average climbs to over $72,000.
Ramsey went on to explain that Larhonda could earn even more if she became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). The average CPA salary in the U.S. is over $96,000, according to Indeed.
Larhonda said when she studied accounting she was taught to do things “the hard way” just with a pair of calculators, but when she went in for job interviews she was expected to know how to use accounting software.
“It’s not rocket science,” Ramsey replied, noting accounting has been performed on computers for decades.
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Change your approach
While it’s easy to blame your areas of study or where you live for your financial troubles, Ramsey said, these aren’t usually the prime culprits when it comes to getting paid what you’re worth.
“These don’t matter as much as your attitude towards it,” he said.
As for the student loans themselves, there’s no way for them to simply go away. And if this woman foot the bill for her son’s education, now that he’s older, it may be time to ask him to chip in. Larhonda may want to help give her son a leg up while he's still establishing himself, but any financial adviser would remind you that you need to put your oxygen mask on first and ensure your finances are covered before helping even your children.
But if the son truly can't chip in, then Ramsey recommended throwing every single dime available toward the debt. He also recommended Larhonda seek out jobs specifically in accounting and supply chain logistics for higher income.
“If you don’t get above this instead of laying under it, ‘this’ being your career, where the career problems are all happening to you and instead you start happening to the career … the math on this is really not going to go well,” Ramsey said, “That’s called a small shovel and a very large hole.”
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