A $300,000 debt on a social work salary is not a debt problem — it's an income problem. The only real solution is dramatic career repositioning, not budgeting harder.
The ROI on many graduate degrees is simply negative. Ariel's professors encouraged the loan without understanding the loan forgiveness program they were recommending — and that's the scandal.
Owning a rental property that loses money isn't real estate investing. It's a leftover life decision that owns you, not the other way around.