Paying for grad school

[Anonymous]

How did your DC pay for grad school? DC is a biomedical engineering major and has started talking about grad school.

[Anonymous]

My kid went directly to fully funded PhD program after undergrad (ChemE BS to Bio E phd). His entire higher education (merit $ for BS and fully funded for PhD) was almost free.

[Anonymous]

Grandparents paid. So far, one med school and one law school.

[Anonymous]

We aren't there yet but DS is a junior in college also talking about grad school. He can use the small amount left in his 529 for it, plans to work a couple years after graduation before going to grad school so will save as much as he can then, see if an employer will help pay for it and figure it out from there. If an employer will help it might make sense to go PT. If not, depending on where he is with work, he might prefer to take a work break and go full time, taking loans as needed.

DD, a college sophomore, also plans on grad school but is in a STEM field where it would only make sense to do it if she gets funded by a university. Like DS, if there's money left in the 529 she can use that for other expenses.

We've paid 100% for undergrad so grad school is on them to figure out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grandparents paid. So far, one med school and one law school.

My grandmother paid for my law school as well. I am so grateful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid went directly to fully funded PhD program after undergrad (ChemE BS to Bio E phd). His entire higher education (merit $ for BS and fully funded for PhD) was almost free.

How did he go about getting his PhD fully funded? Was this through the University or an employer?

[Anonymous]

Work for the university— tuition remission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grandparents paid. So far, one med school and one law school.

My grandmother paid for my law school as well. I am so grateful.

These comments aren't helpful. I am sure if OP could just ask their mommy or daddy to pay, they wouldn't need to post.

[Anonymous]

Most masters programs are full pay or tuition reduced if you are a TA. And most do not have good ROI.

PhD programs are another story. Almost all universities have programs to make them close to free if you and you have to teach undgrad classes .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid went directly to fully funded PhD program after undergrad (ChemE BS to Bio E phd). His entire higher education (merit $ for BS and fully funded for PhD) was almost free.

How did he go about getting his PhD fully funded? Was this through the University or an employer?

Uni at UC Berkeley. All of his acceptances were fully funded.

[Anonymous]

We paid for one dc's grad school. The other hasn't gone to grad school yet.

I paid for my own grad school. It was a combination of savings (it was an MBA program so I had been out for a couple of years), scholarships, work study and loans. I went to a top university with a big endowment which turned out to be less expensive than going to UVA in-state because they basically gave me a package that had all the components for me to be able to attend. The loans were manageable post grad, but of course coming out of an MBA program you tend to go into reasonably high paying jobs.

[Anonymous]

For med school, a tier 1 law school or a top business school (e.g., Wharton), take out loans. Unless you really screw up, you'll make enough to pay them back and still live comfortably.

For a tier 2 law school or highly ranked but not elite business school, only go if you can get most if not all of your tuition covered by a grant or scholarship, and take out loans for what's left over, including your living expenses.

For a grad program outside of those fields, look for something fully funded. Not only will you avoid going into debt, but these programs tend to be of a higher quality and more respected in the workplace. Most if not all grad programs that don't offer assistantships are just money grabs.

For a tier 3 or below toilet law school, a jagoff business school, or a non-funded grad program, including anything that can be done 100% online, don't waste your time.

[Anonymous]

With the exception of professional schools, if you have to pay for graduate school you don’t belong there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid went directly to fully funded PhD program after undergrad (ChemE BS to Bio E phd). His entire higher education (merit $ for BS and fully funded for PhD) was almost free.

How did he go about getting his PhD fully funded? Was this through the University or an employer?

Uni at UC Berkeley. All of his acceptances were fully funded.

Getting PhD in Engineering from UCB is like getting PhD from MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For med school, a tier 1 law school or a top business school (e.g., Wharton), take out loans. Unless you really screw up, you'll make enough to pay them back and still live comfortably.

For a tier 2 law school or highly ranked but not elite business school, only go if you can get most if not all of your tuition covered by a grant or scholarship, and take out loans for what's left over, including your living expenses.

For a grad program outside of those fields, look for something fully funded. Not only will you avoid going into debt, but these programs tend to be of a higher quality and more respected in the workplace. Most if not all grad programs that don't offer assistantships are just money grabs.

For a tier 3 or below toilet law school, a jagoff business school, or a non-funded grad program, including anything that can be done 100% online, don't waste your time.

This. DH’s parents paid for his grad school, and I paid for my (top tier) law school with loans. I didn’t do big law, but could have. I wouldn’t have had the choice if we were both paying student loans.