Lesson for Students: The Best Debt Is None

· "I'm about to receive $30,000 of the life insurance money that my father requested I use to pay off the student loans. I have $39,000 in loans with interest rates below 3.5 percent. Should I invest it and pull from what grows to continue to make the regular payments? Or should I just pay off a massive chunk of the student loans?"

· "Would it be more beneficial to take out a student loan to complete my master's degree, or to take the money from my Vanguard fund? I need around $5,000 for the semester. I'm 24 and have about $10,000."

As to the first woman's question, I would not totally deplete my emergency stash of cash, but I would take about half of it and put another dent in that debt.

For the second questioner, should you invest money you inherit or pay down your student loan? Your father did know best. Pay down the debt.

And is it beneficial to take out a loan when you can pay cash for your education? No. It's only beneficial to the lender.

I think all the questions, on some level, stem from the belief that student loan debt is good debt. It's not. Debt is bad, even when necessary. Conventional wisdom should follow this old Chinese proverb, "A good debt is not as good as no debt."

· On the air: Michelle Singletary discusses personal finance Tuesdays on NPR's "Day to Day" program and online athttp://www.npr.org.

· By mail: Readers can write to her at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C., 20071.

· By e-mail:singletarym@washpost.com.

Comments and questions are welcome, but because of the volume of mail, personal responses are not always possible. Please note that comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.