Grad school costs..

[Indylady]

Did you pay out of pocket?

Did you have funding?

Did you think it was worth it if you paid out of pocket?

I'm interested in hearing from all disciplines! Thanks in advance.

 

[megumic]

I'm STILL a law student, took out all of my tuition in loans but could afford living expenses from FI and savings. Let's just say I'll be well in debt when I graduate next May and I think it has been worth every single cent. I did receive funding for my internships and I just received a scholarship, so that helps. But still. I'd do it all over again in a second.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

So far, I am paying out of pocket for school. Luckily the school I attend is very, very reasonable. I do not plan on taking student loans. Some programs do offer grants so that is something to look into. Also, you can do the work study program where you work part time for the university and they pay for your tuition. Where there is a will, there is a way

 

[Indylady]

Thanks Megumic and Tacori!

Meg- I'm considering law school as well. Its much harder to find funding for law school. Kudos to you for your internships and scholarship!

Tacori- I'm looking into those work-study type programs as well. Some of them require that you only take two courses per semester..do the ones at your university allow you to be a full time student as well?

The "Do you have debt" thread made me start this one.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I did my PhD in social psychology and earned between $25k and $50k per year from government scholarships and TA stipends in grad school and on my post-doc. No school debt for me. This is common is top programmes in my country.

 

[Octavia]

My law school gave me a full-tuition scholarship. It was contingent on remaining in the top half of the class, so it was a risk, but it was also a state school so it would have been far cheaper than any of the alternatives even without the scholarship. I did get smaller scholarships to other schools, but they were all private so they were far more expensive to start with. Fortunately, my grades were more than sufficient to maintain it, so I got a full ride on tuition for the entire three years. I did take out the maximum amount of Stafford loans for living expenses (usually $20,500 for law students, though that may have changed since last fall, not sure about that). It wouldn't have been enough if my DH hadn't helped out, though (my city isn't cheap, books are very expensive, my health insurance through school before we got married was ridiculous, and it all had to be paid out of that loan money). My loan amount for 2L and 3L was reduced based on what I made during the summers, so I'm ending up with something over $50K in federal loans and no private loans (thank goodness) -- it's a lot of money, but not that much when you consider what most people pay for a law degree.

I don't want to work at a large firm, so debt load was a huge factor for me in choosing a school -- I wanted to be sure I could afford my monthly payments on a public sector salary.

 

[Hera]

I have access to my husband's GI bill which has recently been extended to spouses. I'm only using a portion so our child can use some of it for their university expenses.

 

[RhubarbPie]

I took out probably 60,000 for grad school. I have a master's degree in music. I actually didn't pay very much for school - I got in-state tuition plus an assistantship which gave me tuition remission and a stipend. However, I bought a 40,000.00 violin. My parents gave me 11,000.00 for it, and I took out loans for the rest. My bf (soon to be fiancee!!) is going to law school in the fall, but luckily he got a decent scholarship and his parents are paying for the rest (as well as living expenses for both of us), so we will really only have 60K of debt between the two of us. He's going to one of the top 10 law schools in the country, and I'm hoping this will give him the opportunity to take a biglaw job which will start out at a pretty high salary. We'll see...

 

[Autumnovember]

Well lets seeeee....

Undergrad was all loans so once I get done grad school, I'll have to start paying those off along with grad school loans. My total cost of loans is going to be around 78,000$. I'll be paying for it allllll by myself. I wish I had funding

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

My DH and I decided to stay in state for school for cost reasons. I could have gotten good scholarships elsewhere, but he could not. The first year, I was a TA, so my tuition was covered. However, anthro depts don't have much money, so that was the only help they could offer and they had to pass it around. Last year, I took out government loans for the cost of tuition, which came out to about 8,500. I work, so I don't have a loan for living expenses,which would have made it 20-40,000 a year. I am not taking classes, just doing my thesis this year, so the cost will be a lot less, but I will likely get loans for this last year as well. My DH has some scholarships coverage and we have loans for the rest, but I think it was $6,000 for him last year and he has a year and a half to go. We are poor, but since we both both work, we didn't take loans or living expenses which in the long run is totally worth it.

I am hoping to get my PhD abroad, so I have no idea how that will all pan out. I am hoping if I teach they will cover my tuition, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

[kittybean]

I didn't take out any loans for law school. My parents and grandparents had saved up a considerable "college fund" for me, but I actually ended up getting a full-tuition scholarship and living stipend in undergrad, so my expenses were very limited then. The money was invested in various stocks and mutual funds that had done really well, so when it came time for me to go to law school, there was enough there to cover tuition and living expenses at the school I chose. Since I ended up with a partial scholarship for tuition in law school, I used the leftover money to buy a car. It was great to be able to take the public interest job I really wanted after law school and not have to worry about paying off school or car loans.

DH and I are still working on paying off his massive student loan debt--he went to a top-three law school with no funding or help from family. He paid off a huge chunk before we got engaged, but there is still quite a bit left. He has a BigLaw job he loves (something I can't understand at all!), so that helps a lot. I think we'd be in a very different financial position if he were also in the public interest sector.

To sum up, I think the way we each chose to pay for school worked well for our respective interests and financial situations. I believe it's important to consider what you'll be doing after grad school and what your finances will probably be like before you dive head-first into student loan debt. I knew it was very likely that I'd be working in the public sector after law school, so it didn't make sense for me to rack up a bunch of debt I would have trouble paying back.

 

[luckynumber]

I have no college debt at all as my parents paid for everything (I am very lucky and grateful.)

Not sure if I would take out massive loans myself to pay for a degree. I'm having trouble convincing myself to get a mortgage!

Kudos to all of you who have had the guts to borrow the money to follow your dreams

 

[Circe]

I did a Ph.D. in English at a private institution in the US. I had a Javits Fellowship, which made my life *much* easier than it would have been otherwise, although my institution did fund ... however, if I'm remembering right, my first year of grad school my school stipend would have been 14k, whereas the Javits paid out almost 20k. That's the difference between being below the poverty line, and above it. Without the Javits, I would probably have accrued some loans: with it, I graduated debt-free, which is a really big deal if you're going into a field that's as notoriously risky as teaching in the humanities.

A word of advice to anybody reading this and considering a humanities Ph.D.: for the love of Mike, do not attend an unfunded program. Aside from the whole practical aspect of "You are now 100K in the hole, and your best-bet starting salary in a field with 9 openings nation-wide is 60K," schools that don't fund tend to be objectively worse schools, in terms of reputation, resources, and retention. It's throwing good money after bad. Take a year: teach, if you can find a CC or non-profit that will look good on your CV; retake the GREs; revamp your rec. letters and writing samples, and try again. But don't cripple your chances from the get-go by attending anything less than the best school possible, with the best system of support possible.

PSA concluded - apologies for sounding like everybody's Aunt Worry-Wart, but I really do hate the way that the academy can chew people up and spit them out these days.

 

[kama_s]

Like Dreamer, I studied in a Canadian university. It's much easier here for students interms of fees, financial support and funding. I had a decent stipend throughtout my Master's (clinical pharmacology) of around 22k - which, mind you, was TAX FREE. I also made another 10k TAing and invigilating.

I did have some debt during undergrad when I took out govt loans to pay my way through. The best part about the govt loans are that they are interest free until you finish school - doesn't matter how long it takes. I paid all off as soon as I graduated .

 

[Shoopy]

75% paid by employer. The rest was me. Yes, it was totally worth it.

 

[Indylady]

Dreamer, that sounds amazing! Do you have any idea if Canadian schools might be willing to offer as much aid to an international student? If I went to a Canadian university, I'd go for a master's in Sociology. Top Soc. programs in the US are often funded as well. I've considered University of Toronto and Mc Gill, but haven't done my homework yet.

Octavia, a full scholarship is awesome! The cost differences between state schools and private schools, esp. when it comes to law school, is so large. Pepperdine law= $60,000 per year. UCLA law= $30,000 per year.

Hera- Very neat!

Rhubarb- A $40,000 violin?! Wow!

Autumn- There's something to say for doing something all by yourself; you're going to med school, right?

Brazen- Have you looked into the Mitchell? I know you were interested in going back to Ireland. The Marshall and Rhodes come to mind as well.

Kitty- Great advice! I keep hearing from two schools of thought: go to the best school possible, and go to the best school considering what you'll do after you graduate.

Lucky- I think mortgages/the idea of taking on a massive loan is scary.

Circe- Thank you! Sound advice. I've only recently heard of the Javits, but its something I'll look into more now that you've mentioned it. What do you think about unfunded programs at top schools? A close friend of my SO is going to an unfunded master's program at Columbia for film studies, which is also a top program for that field if my understanding is correct. My professors told me the same thing you did: don't go unfunded, there's a certain level of prestige that comes with funded programs, which are also usually the best. So, what about going unfunded at a top school? Yay or nay?

Kama- Can you give me thoughts on University of Toronto and McGill? These are two I'm familiar with. Canadian universities, even top schools, seem fairly affordable.

Fiery- Nice!

 

[Circe]

Circe- Thank you! Sound advice. I've only recently heard of the Javits, but its something I'll look into more now that you've mentioned it. What do you think about unfunded programs at top schools? A close friend of my SO is going to an unfunded master's program at Columbia for film studies, which is also a top program for that field if my understanding is correct. My professors told me the same thing you did: don't go unfunded, there's a certain level of prestige that comes with funded programs, which are also usually the best. So, what about going unfunded at a top school? Yay or nay?

It depends on your field, honestly: if you're going for a specialization that has the possibility of sound financial remuneration eventually, go for it. Law, medicine, or the sciences (the ones with practical application, anyway) - sure. In English, or any similar field? Hell, no. I'd only do an unfunded MFA or the like if I wanted to teach, and already had enough practical experience in my field to know if it was really necessary or not: no way would I go into it cold.

We had an unfunded Master's-only program in my department: sadly, most people referred to the MAO's as cash cows, and the only people who went for them were either being subsidized by rich parents while they figured out what to do with themselves, or were desperately gambling on the cachet of the degree improving their odds of getting into a fully-funded program for the remainder of their educations. It ended up not working that way for most of them. So then, when you're 30K in the hole and looking down the barrel of the few jobs for which that degree qualifies you: publishing, at a starting salary of 24K if you're lucky, interning if you're not; teaching private school, except you're in competition with the recent Ph.D. grads and the people who've dropped out of the long program, but still have less debt and more teaching experience than you; teaching public school, which is awesome, but which doesn't pay that well, and for which you didn't actually need the degree; going back to your undergrad major, except now a lot of entry-level positions will think you're overqualified. Yippee!

Apply for the Javits, for the Soros, for all the many "little" scholarships out there that fall between the cracks, is my advice. They add cachet to the C.V., every little bit helps the wallet, and they can make a candidate that much more appealing to the top schools to boot ....

 

[lucyandroger]

I took out about $135,000 for law school. My FI did the same. We are both in BigLaw to pay it off. While I was in school, I thought it was totally worth it. I had no idea how much the debt would weigh on me when I got out. It didn't help that I started working in one of the worst legal markets and layoffs were on our minds everyday for the first year.

I'm still not sure if it's worth it. I went to my absolute dream school and having this degree on my resume opens up lots of doors. In the midst of BigLaw life, it's hard to say. I think I'll be happy in 10 years but right now, I'm not gonna lie...life sucks.

 

[katamari]

IndyLady, I just want to echo Circe's position about not going to graduate school, at least for a PhD, if it is not fully funded in the social sciences either (which I say since I know you were a sociology major).

I personally would not advise anyone to get an MA in a non-profession. If you just want to go to graduate school for an MA, get an MBA, a law degree--something that easily translates into a job once you finish. These markets are having trouble, too, but once you get a job you will be in much better position to repay your loans than if you get an MA in a humanities or social science. I hear that MAs in applied statistics are also doing quite well, so that could be an option since you have a sociology background (if you like that aspect of it).

If you are going for your PhD, make sure you are fully funded. There is one institution that I would except from to this rule if you go for sociology, because their policy is to not fund 1st years but will likely fund 2nd years on if they show promise in the first year. All the top programs fund (minus this one) and you really need to go to a top program to be competitive in the academic job market, should that be where you end up.

To answer your questions, I did not pay one cent out of pocket and was advised by everyone along the way to take this approach. Neither did my DH. I had modest funding, but I went to school in a lower cost of living city than some, so it was manageable. I also, since this topic also came up, did not go to the best school that I got into but would if I had the chance to do it all again (despite loving my experience and having it work out perfectly for me in the end).

If you are thinking about going for sociology and you want to talk to someone who did that, feel free to e-mail the mods for my contact (or I will e-mail them with permission to send it to you).

 

[laine]

Ditto everything Katamari said! I also have a PhD in Sociology and was fully funded: salary wasn't much ($17K a year, but it covered living expenses) and tuition and health insurance were covered.
I loved my program--I graduated last year and got a tenure track job. I'd be happy to give you more info about anything, just let me know!

 

[RaiKai]

Did you pay out of pocket?

Did you have funding?

Did you think it was worth it if you paid out of pocket?

I'm interested in hearing from all disciplines! Thanks in advance.

Law school.

I was 100% responsible to pay my own way. For the first year or so, I was able to sharing living expenses with my ex-common law spouse, but I was 100% responsible for the school expenses and for half of our living expenses (and then for all living expenses too plus my costs of our separation...ha!).

I took out student loans, and a student line of credit (I have about $50K worth). I had never taken out loans during undergrad, so I still qualified to take them and I took advantage of that (up here, some times you only qualify for a max number of years or degrees, etc). I had to get the line of credit though, as the loans maxed out at $12,500 a year in my province, and that did not even cover all my tuition.

I also was able to get some bursaries and scholarships over the years (about $25K worth).

I also worked part-time (about 20-25 hours a week) and full-time during the summers.

Was it worth it? Definitely yes. I mean, I do not like having the debt at all, and it is going to take years to pay it all of, but I really wanted to go back to law school and that was part of the deal if I did so, unfortunately. I love my job. I do NOT work in Big Law so it is going to take more time than it may for some of my peers who chose Big Law, but I make a decent amount, and where I do work has a fair compensation package once I get to my second year or so, and there are other advantages of working where I do (free parking, fair benefits package, fairly short partnership track, family/personal life balance, great working atmosphere, etc) which is why I chose it over the Big Law route.

I think you have to be pretty sure you are doing what you want to do, to make it worth it. Don't do it just because you don't know what else to do, for example!

 

[Indylady]

Thank you Circe! You have given me a lot to think about.

Lucyandroger- Congrats on going to a great law school, and thank you for your honest answer.

Katamari- I would love to talk to you! I've emailed an admin; hopefully they will put us in touch.

Lanie- Congrats! Any tips for someone that might enter the field?

Raikai- Was it hard working and going to school full time as well? One of my close friends recently changed her mind about attending her dream school to attend a local school for a master's in education; she spent the last six months working two jobs, and hated how exhausted she was. She realized it would be that like for her at her dream program where she'd have to work and take classes full time, and realized that that wasn't something she wanted. Thoughts?

 

[zipzapgirl]

MBA at a top-tier university.

My employer covers a set amount per year that will equal about one third of the cost of the degree in the end. I am self-funded for the rest. No loans, just using up a lot of personal cash flow

I had a full ride 4 year scholarship for my undergrad degree at an in-state school. My parents covered my car and books and I worked in the summers for spending money. I am so thankful that I had that scholarship and so glad I chose to go there fully funded rather than to the private school where I would only have had a partial scholarship.

I think (hope!) the MBA is going to worth it. I am working more and more with finance people and they all have top MBA's. My small state university was wonderful, but I think having a top-tier university name on my resume is important to these finance types. I have a different opinion of how much it really matters, but since they're the ones hiring and promoting me, I'm playing their game.

ETA: I am working full-time and doing the MBA nights and weekends.

 

[stephbolt]

I was enrolled in a Chemistry PhD program but opted out with an MS. I was funded as either a teaching or research assistant the entire time (got tuition paid and a stipend of 22K). I had to pay a few hundred worth of student fees a year out of pocket.

I don't think I would have pursued my degree if I had to go into debt to get it, because I didn't want to get into a high-earning sector of Chemistry so it would have taken me a really long time to pay off the loans.

DH has about 60-70K in student loans from law school. Well worth it to him, because he loves the area of law he works in, and his earning potential will pay them back within a reasonable time frame.

 

[Clairitek]

I'm about to get my PhD in Mechanical Engineering (actually, at the same school Stephb0lt went to). My situation was just like hers- tuition covered and a stipend (ranging from $18,500 or so when I started in 2005 to $24k that I make for another two months). We had to pay a student fee to use the facilities (gym, health center) which was not optional. I also paid out of pocket for a parking permit. My stipend was enough to cover my living expenses here though my parents did help me by keeping me in health insurance until I was too old to qualify for theirs and they also paid for a car and car insurance. The last couple of years DH has been subsidizing my life since we bought a house together.

I have no debt at all from either degree and I know a lot of that is the field I chose to study.

If I had to pay out of pocket for my degree, I don't think that I would have gone for PhD. I probably would have stopped at a Masters or not gone at all.

This is an interesting side note though. I was talking with an undergrad in my lab about the loss of income due to grad school. I did a little estimate on how long it would take to "earn back" all of the lost income from not working a full paying job for the last 6 years (I've been here only for 5 though). I determined that it would take me roughly 15 years to earn back what I've lost. I'm starting out at about $25k more per year with PhD in my industry over what I would make with a bachelor's degree so that helps quite a bit. Certainly something to think about when making this choice.

 

[RaiKai]

Raikai- Was it hard working and going to school full time as well? One of my close friends recently changed her mind about attending her dream school to attend a local school for a master's in education; she spent the last six months working two jobs, and hated how exhausted she was. She realized it would be that like for her at her dream program where she'd have to work and take classes full time, and realized that that wasn't something she wanted. Thoughts?

Heck yeah it was. Working summers was great (and I worked in a law related area) but during the school year it definitely sucked. I worked during undergrad too, but it was much harder in law school. Most people do NOT work while in law school for good reason.

In the first year or so I survived on about 4 hours sleep a night. But, it was sort of just what had to be done to be able to afford it. I don't think my grades were as high as they could have been if I was not working and had more time to focus, but I still did my best to make time for myself (i.e. running, training for adventure racing, and other personal stuff I liked to do) and so I did not feel like ALL I did was work and play, despite that. After the first year, you get a bit better about "how" to study in law school too.

Can't say it helped my relationship at the time much though. My hours and working were not the cause of the end of my relationship (I do not regret it ending or where I am today as there were other issues in that relationship) but definitely the law school PLUS working put a strain on it where it was a relationship that could not take that sort of strain. A lot of relationships do not survive law school (but, again, I hardly blame law school and it comes down to the relationship was not really strong enough to begin with or had issues that were cracked open under the strain....DH and I after all were fine during my last year + of me being in law school!).

And anytime I felt a bit down about it, I looked at a couple of my peers who were juggling law school, jobs AND a baby.

 

[Autumnovember]

Dreamer, that sounds amazing! Do you have any idea if Canadian schools might be willing to offer as much aid to an international student? If I went to a Canadian university, I'd go for a master's in Sociology. Top Soc. programs in the US are often funded as well. I've considered University of Toronto and Mc Gill, but haven't done my homework yet.

Octavia, a full scholarship is awesome! The cost differences between state schools and private schools, esp. when it comes to law school, is so large. Pepperdine law= $60,000 per year. UCLA law= $30,000 per year.

Hera- Very neat!

Rhubarb- A $40,000 violin?! Wow!

Autumn- There's something to say for doing something all by yourself; you're going to med school, right?

Brazen- Have you looked into the Mitchell? I know you were interested in going back to Ireland. The Marshall and Rhodes come to mind as well.

Kitty- Great advice! I keep hearing from two schools of thought: go to the best school possible, and go to the best school considering what you'll do after you graduate.

Lucky- I think mortgages/the idea of taking on a massive loan is scary.

Circe- Thank you! Sound advice. I've only recently heard of the Javits, but its something I'll look into more now that you've mentioned it. What do you think about unfunded programs at top schools? A close friend of my SO is going to an unfunded master's program at Columbia for film studies, which is also a top program for that field if my understanding is correct. My professors told me the same thing you did: don't go unfunded, there's a certain level of prestige that comes with funded programs, which are also usually the best. So, what about going unfunded at a top school? Yay or nay?

Kama- Can you give me thoughts on University of Toronto and McGill? These are two I'm familiar with. Canadian universities, even top schools, seem fairly affordable.

Fiery- Nice!

Indy---Thank you I graduated with a B.A. in psychology and now I'm taking pre-req's for nursing school that I'm starting in the winter. That'll be an accelerated BSN program for 15 months (pure hell) which is going to cost 40,000 alone..yuck! So goal is to be a psychiatric nurse!

 

[Callisto]

I work at a public university at the moment so they cover part of my tuition since I'm a staff member. I'm getting an MBA part time while I work full time. I don't plan on taking out any student loans. My job at the university doesn't pay great, but at least the tuition help makes it a little more worth it. The school I work at is very reasonably priced to begin with so the whole MBA should cost me less than $10K

 

[Octavia]

Kitty- Great advice! I keep hearing from two schools of thought: go to the best school possible, and go to the best school considering what you'll do after you graduate.

Regarding the above, I think it's a combination of the two. Even if you want to do public interest/public service work, a degree from a top school opens tons of doors (more likely to get a federal clerkship, gov't honors programs like the DOJ one, etc). You have to do much better grade-wise at a lower-ranked school to get the same opportunities. The problem is that you don't really know, going in, how you're going to do. It might correlate to your performance in college and it might not -- it's just a different experience. Some top schools do give great scholarships, and if you can nab one of those (and since you got a Fullbright, I'd think that if you do well on the LSAT you'll probably have a decent shot), go for it. If you get in but don't get funding, then you'll have to decide what's most important to you.

I ended up choosing between a top-14 school that gave me a few thousand a year (would have been about $175K in debt at the end) that is several states away from where I live, and the school I went to in my city. I got rejected by the Ivy in my city, and the rest of the law schools there tend to be ranked somewhere in the low 50s-high 60s. It made sense financially and emotionally to stay where I was and not to deal with a long-distance relationship with my DH (boyfriend at the time I made the decision). But I do very slightly regret not having that other school's name on my resume...

 

[mayerling]

Thankfully grad school in the UK is not that bad. Things are expensive here, for an EU student it costs less than £20000 a year. In my day, it cost £13000 a year. I did my degree part-funded by a scholarship, and part-funded by my parents, so thankfully I don't have to deal with debt right now.