The prevalence of so many strapped borrowers is why I recommend students borrow no more for their educations, in total, than they expect to make the first year out of school.
This rule of thumb won’t work for everyone — heaven knows, you may be the rare literature M.A. who writes a best-selling novel and pays off her debt with one check — but it’s a good starting point for anyone considering strapping herself to more education bills.
Also, I should note that if your undergrad degree was in a non-technical field, a technical master's will be quite worth the price. My undergrad was in music, and without my master's in CS I think I would have had a difficult time entering the field. Sure, I hear it's possible to become a programmer without any formal training, but the degree opened doors that allowed me to start in a much higher position.