The much-debated student debt issue

[Marc Belisle]

Hi all, I've been reading a lot of posts going back a couple of years on student debt and REI. There are many opinions and I find that each situation is different based on age, job and where someone is in their life. So I'll throw out my situation to you and see what thoughts you all have.

I'm an RN and make good money and my wife makes very good money. I'm one term from finishing grad school for Nurse Practitioner which will double my income. It comes at a cost of $65K of federal student loans. I have low consumer credit debt. We live in a home with a mortgage and rent our other home. The student loans won't have payments due until early next year. Since healthcare providers can qualify for debt forgiveness if they work in hospitals for 10 years, much of my debt and its interest may never be due.

I am saving $ to place a 20% downpayment on a turnkey home in a much more affordable market than that which can be found in New England. The turnkey should cash flow positive about $200 (conservative) if all works out as planned. I see investing in a cash flow property as using debt to work for me: I earn cash each month that I wouldn't have otherwise and someone pays down my mortgage for me thus building my equity. 

Alternatively, if I pay off student debt extremely aggressively, I will pay debt off in 5 years; HOWEVER I will end up paying a lot of debt and interest that I wouldn't have needed to pay if I paid the minimum monthly payments for 10 years and had the rest forgiven due to working in hospitals. 

When my income greatly increases after graduation it will push my debt to income ratio much lower, yes? What are your thoughts on buying a turnkey soon? It's a very interesting situation.