True, it's the love and emotional support that matter most. But money concerns do influence relationships, no matter whether we want them to or not.

I don't envy you those student loans, TSM. We saved about 90% of my professional salary for the last 15 years or so when I was still working, and fortunately that's there now for me and our son to go to school on. Our son's in his third year of college at an expensive school. It took some planning so we could swing all that. My husband is a cardiologist, and he was starting residency when we were first married. His first years of practice went directly to paying back those loans. We knew that if I went to med school once our son was grown and gone, we needed to find another way to support that, so we saved. Heck, I'll be so old by the time I get out that I'd barely have the chance to practice medicine long enough to pay back debts if I incurred any.

Where are you in dental school and what year? I'm in my first year at UT-Southwestern Medical in Dallas. I understand the first two years of our curricula are almost identical, then y'all start branching off into teeth and we stay with the rest of the body. I find medical biochemistry the most intimidating course I'm in currently. Nice talking with you!