The book’s subtitle, “On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom,” positions the work’s central concern as a journey out of debt and toward a better life. However, Ken discusses debt from multiple angles, some of which frame it as a necessary component of modern living. While education, Ken shows, need not carry the burden of debt, many students cannot avoid taking out some loans to bolster their physical, financial, and emotional security. Debt, as a simple measurement of money, was the easiest component of Ken’s journey to overcome, as he worked hard, cut back on his consumption, and dedicated his efforts to becoming debt-free. Only at Duke University did Ken’s perceptions about debt fully develop, allowing him to see how debt is not always bad.

In referring to his decision to transfer from a private university to the University at Buffalo, Ken reflects, “I told myself that incurring student debt was like puberty or a midlife crisis: it was an unavoidable nuisance, a ticket required for admission to the next stage of adulthood” (9), aligning debt alongside other unavoidable nuisances in a person’s life. However, this ticket was also a “burden” that Ken needed to climb the “socioeconomic ladder,” making it a necessity both for the sake of convention and for the promise of future success.