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On a Sunday afternoon several years ago, my wife and I sat at our kitchen table, staring glumly at a budget I'd worked up for us.

Even though we were both attorneys at the time, the numbers were ...  less than great. My wife worked at a small law firm, and I worked as a government attorney—good jobs by most standards. But I carried a hefty debt load from law school, and those monthly payments took a serious chunk out of our budget. 

You could have filled the courtroom of the U.S. Supreme Court with all the things I didn't know when I started law school.

Chief among them: A law degree is the second most expensive graduate degree in the United States. Law students graduate with an average $140,616 in student loans. 

You might think going into a high-powered profession like law or medicine would guarantee that you'd pay down your student debt quicker than most. But — according to our recent Payback Progress survey — you'd be wrong. 

So who's winning the loan payback game? Get ready to be surprised. 

If you’ve ever applied for a loan and been denied — despite your good credit score and history of on-time payments — your debt-to-income ratio may be the unseen culprit.

Your debt-to-income ratio is the total of your monthly debts, divided by your gross monthly income. It’s a simple way for lenders to assess your current debt load — and your ability to take on new debt.

This number isn’t the only way lenders decide whether to give you a new loan. But it’s an important one. Borrowers with high debt-to-income ratios are generally considered at increased risk of defaulting, and may be offered higher interest rates and less flexible terms.

Here’s how to determine yours.

See also: Paying Off Student Loans 

If you have a graduate degree in a medical field, there's a good chance that along with a drawer full of scrubs and the ability to name every bone in the body, you're in possession of a significant student loan balance. 

Medical professionals have the highest average student debt load among individuals who earn graduate degrees: $161,772. And if you put your loans into forbearance during your residency, that number might be even higher. 

Paying off your student loans before you're retired may feel like a pipe dream. So what can you do about it?

In a perfect world, you'd be able to make your student loan payments on time every month. In fact, you'd pay extra. 

But in reality, all of us can find ourselves with less cash than we need to pay the bills. If you've been struggling for long enough that your student loans are in default, you're probably looking for a way to get back into compliance with the terms of your repayment plan. Student loan rehabilitation may be your answer.