Don't you know how hard it is to get a degree?

Here's the flipside - interviewing a guy furloughed in 2008(?). Job market drying up. He figures it will rebound and maybe now's the time to get his degree if he every wants to get on with a major. Two boys, wife's working, so he becomes the stay at home dad/college student, in his 40's, while the wife works. And then the economic downturn hits her job. Both unemployed. They make the decision that he should stay in college "it was tough but we made it."

Long term thinking despite what must have been an unbelievable tough decision to accept the short term pain.