> how many people can realistically pull $120,000 from friend and family _and_ expect to pay it all back?

Taking everything said at face value, you pay 120k for 6 years in the job market. That's 20k a year, without interest.

edit: please don't read this as an "oh, only 20k a year" comment. My intention was just to make the number approachable by connecting it to the given return.

In the same way one would explain unreasonably high college expenses.