Name: Danielle Liss
Age: 34
Location: Las Vegas
Profession: Corporate litigator

When Danielle Liss graduated from college, she was almost debt-free. Her employer offered tuition reimbursement, and her parents helped some, bringing her total undergrad debt to just $5,000. Then she decided to go to law school — and borrowed $77,000. She graduated and passed the bar — hooray! She also got divorced (not hooray), so she put her loan payments on hold. (Technically called "forbearance.") But they still accrued interest, and now Danielle owes about $100,000. Expected payoff: June 2039, just after Danielle turns 63.

She's paying about $426 a month now, an amount that will increase every 18 months. And regrets? She's got a few. One of the biggest: $10,000 of her total is a private loan."I took it to have extra spending money, to pay off some bills, and because I didn't want to cut my lifestyle at all," she says. Although she'd definitely still get her law degree in Do-Over World, she'd do some things differently. For instance, she picked her private school based on location rather than price. "I could have looked at schools that were maybe 20 minutes further away," she says. "I also think I could've done more to research scholarships and grants, and I could've cut back on spending."

For now, Danielle is focused on making payments and whittling away at her debt. She'd like to wipe it out in less than three decades, but she's also struggling with credit card debt and a mortgage. "I don't think I knew quite how difficult it was going to be to manage the payments and a normal lifestyle," she says — a lifestyle that includes a mortgage payment, a car payment, and "normal budget expenses." Of her diploma, she says, "It's like I financed a small condo."

More on student debt:

• The late-start guide to college savings
• Amanda Pleau went to college to get out of debt
• Moving home to save money. Then spending it.
• Ask for student loan forgiveness
• Is graduate school a good investment?

Related Links:

How to consolidate your student loans

Is graduate school a good investment?

Cutting college costs with summers at community college