Crippling student loan debt vs. "Ph.T." (or Pw.T nowadays)

rph3664

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I considered posting this in the Lounge but decided this would be a more suitable location.

In recent decades, there's been a lot of very warranted discussion about people leaving college with ever-increasing amounts of debt. However, a generation or two, there was a phenomenon known as "Ph.T" or "Put Hubby Through" Nowadays, that would just as likely be "Pw.T" or "Put Wife Through" - and the divorce rates for these marriages were astronomical. In short, these (usually) men were just using their (usually) wives for the paycheck, and cut them loose as soon as they weren't needed for that purpose any more. I should add that the first time I heard of someone doing that, it was a woman who used her husband in this manner to pay her way through veterinary school, and presented him with divorce papers within a week of graduation. She readily admitted that this really was what happened, too.

Wow.

I live in a city that has a college of chiropractic, and years ago, I worked with a woman who, in her younger years (this would have been the 1970s) worked with a lot of women who were convinced that their doctor husbands were going to lead them to a life of luxury; instead, probably 90% of them ditched their wives shortly after graduation, and if they had children (a huge percentage did), they almost always signed away their rights to them, and walked away as if the kids had never existed. She did add that all of those women were the type who had "ABUSE ME" practically stamped on their foreheads. I sure wouldn't want someone like that treating me, that's for sure.

Has anyone else witnessed this kind of thing where you live and/or go to school?

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I've personally never met anyone that was in this situation or heard of anyone in it. But there are some pretty lousy people out there so I don't doubt that it happens.
 
Isn't all that common. Plenty of medical school marriages and relationships fall apart in residency, but that's usually not a planned phenomenon.
 
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Isn't all that common. Plenty of medical school marriages and relationships fall apart in residency, but that's usually not a planned phenomenon.

There was a woman in my social circle who graduated a couple years behind me and divorced her alcoholic husband immediately after graduation, but she was married to him before she went back to school, and she and their kids would have had to go on welfare if she had left him earlier. It turned out she wasn't as innocent as she made herself out to be; her license has been suspended at least once because of her own drinking. :(

I also remember looking at the poster with all our residents' pictures on it, and telling the technician, who had never previously worked in healthcare, that in the 3 years they would be there, the divorce rate did average about 50% (vs. over a lifetime, KWIM?) and also that most of them would be hospitalized at some time for stress-related issues.
 
My aunt did that to my uncle...or since the divorce I would say that my $@&/ing @&$@ of a @&$@& ex-aunt did that to my uncle
 
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I haven't seen that per se, but I could totally see someone wanting to divorce their partner but not feeling it was feasible due to having no paycheck, and wanting to finish their schooling before severing their source of financial support. Which is pretty cynical, but less cynical than planning from the start to divorce someone you married the instant you don't need their money.
 
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My aunt did that to my uncle...or since the divorce I would say that my $@&/ing @&$@ of a @&$@& ex-aunt did that to my uncle

I hope they didn't have any kids.
 
I hope they didn't have any kids.

they did...she tried for full custody to ensure more money coming her way as she left. She would have won too since he was broke from putting her through school and she had hidden money for herself to get a lawyer. My family paid for his lawyer because we hate that lady so he got to keep the kids 50/50 until they realized how horrible she was and asked the court to give him custody
 
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