Easy answer. Easy solution to their problems:
Leave New York.
I imagine Dave Ramsey would advise this couple to pay off their student loans, DO NOT buy a house in New York, and when they are out of debt - leave New York.
I wonder - even if they took a $100,000 yearly loss in income to live somewhere else - if that could be made good by the lower taxes and lower costs of living.
A starter home in New York costing $500,000 could be had back home in Louisiana for $100,000.
They can't: she works in private equity, he in securities litigation. The chances of them both finding work in their fields in another city is small, and even if they did, it would likely be at lower salaries in another city with living costs that are almost as high as NY.
And go where, to work in securities law and private equity?
There's basically one other option - San Francisco, which is worse.