Penn State office of student aid has a chart with loan amount and what suggested salary should be after graduation to be reasonable. According to the chart 30K in loans requires a 50K salary–what’s sobering is the loan repayment schedule is still over 10 years. Realizing that your 30K loan is actually 40K over time might make a difference.
My best friend’s mom was stuck with 50k worth of loans after college without knowing it. Her parents took out loans in her name and didn’t tell her. She didn’t even sign a paper, this was circa 1986.
And a sure way to solve loan debt is when the financial office says “Hope you are ready to live with mom and dad for the next 10 years”.