Is My Bachelor Degree Really Worth $293,059.15?

What you're going through is a Premature Midlife Crisis. I went through mine at around 28-29.

If it makes you feel better, I turned 30 past November and I look like death incarnate... after a bender. And I've looked like that despite not smoking or drinking (though I do stay up late nights working) since my teens. Nothing much I can do about my looks or age; I'm not gonna land a super model, but there's one thing still going for me.

I refuse to quit. I refuse to be told what is productive, worthwhile or otherwise contributary to my life's worth. You're not the sum of you debts or your age and you're certainly not just another degree-holder without direction.

So what if your degree won't be as useful? So what if you hit 30? Or 60, for that matter? What someone else thinks of your life is really irrevelant when you think about it, since it's your life; they can't live it for you, therefore, their valuation doesn't really matter.

It may take a little while to pay off those debts (maybe you'll get it done sooner if you're lucky), but that and your age aren't the be-all, end-all to you.

If your work or life is unfulfilling, you can still do something about that. I went into this field because I've been told I'm good at it. It wasn't particularly interesting to me; I just wanted to make soap. That wasn't working out at the time, so while I slowly work my way out of this, I'm planning my next phase in life... and there's always a next phase, whether you look forward to it or not.

I understand that age is all about perspective but:

"Now, twenty-seven and staring at the dark descent into thirty"

I promise you it's not that dark a descent.

That being said I think you're vocalizing what a lot of folks have been observing in different contexts but all directionally congruent, over recent years, and that is that there's an increasing disconnect between the Education industry (and when you have colleges that are little more than hedge funds with schools attached for tax purposes it is definitely an industry) and the value delivered to society and to the individuals buying the product. Increasingly studies show that colleges are capturing all of the increased earnings projected for a graduate in the pricing. It's a frustrating reality.