Did I use leverage properly to acquire a graduate degree?

[David Mussaw]

I did not use leverage (student loans) to earn my bachelor degree in accounting, but I did for my master degree in public administration. I took out a student loan for 50K at 8%. My monthly payments are $250 per month based on the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) formula, and I qualified for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) because I work at a community college. If my payments remained the same for the length of the program (10 years); I will pay approximately $30k+ in interest towards my loans, and more than $50k will be forgiven (my payments don't cover the interest).

My graduate degree bumped my salary from $60K to $100k+ because of a job reclassification. My new salary allowed me to max out my 457b and ROTH retirement accounts, increase my savings, raise the monthly payments with my defined-benefit plan with CalPERS and Social Security when I decide to retire (I'm not banking on CalPERS or Social Security). Yes, I'm a state employee and I pay into Social Security, I believe most classified staff at California Community Colleges pay into Social Security and no we are not affected by the windfall provision. My father worked as a classified staff for 30 years at a community college with a $100k+ salary and it did not affect his Social Security payments when he retired 2 years ago. I also write-off my $250 student loan payments because it all goes to interest, and also write-off all my allowed expenses related to my real estate business. My goal is to reduce my Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) as much as possible to keep my student loan payments low. I'm 4 years into the PSLF program.

Did I use leverage properly to acquire a graduate degree? If not, is there anything I'm missing to increase my Return on Investment (ROI) or misunderstanding? Advice and constructive criticism are welcomed.

Thanks,