Living expenses have to come from somewhere. If you use the time to graduate faster, instead of working to generate weekly income, in some cases you can come out ahead overall. Details vary, but it's not obvious that it's a bad deal.
Based on the breakdown, it sounds like she has $100 leftover per month. That pretty much sounds like "liability" money to me. Barely much to dispose of.
The average student loan debt is $38k. If you borrow $100 extra per month, and defer your first payment till the month you graduate, your extra burden is $5300 or so or about 14%. The average borrower takes 20 years to pay off the debt. They’d pay it off 2 years earlier without this extra expenditure.
Okay, but this isn't a 4 year university loan. It's a masters program after she went back to school.
Someone pursuing a masters is much more likely to have a plan on how to turn that degree into better career progression or other opportunities. Especially a masters student who spent time in industry.
And honestly 5k loans to pay off 2-4 years later is about as good a loan debt as you're going to get. Paying off thst debt is more about having a career plan by that time than penny pinching for as low as loan value as possible.
