How do people finance grad school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked for 2 years after undergrad and saved some money. That savings, a partial scholarship, and some help from my parents paid for my master's in public policy.

Not to hiJack thread but do you think masters in public policy was worth it. Dd is currently majoring in history and is considering the same path - working for a couple of years and then going for this masters. She has no interest in a legal career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PHDs are free. JDs can be near free - HYS give only need base aid but schools below Chicago, Columbia, UVA, etc. give out full rides. MBAs don't come with scholarships but many consulting firms will do tuition reimbursement so you only end up paying for 1 year.

I will say... PhDs can be fully funded with a stipend but that doesn’t make them ‘free.’ I didn’t pay a dime for tuition or anything at my PhD school but special expenses add up. My stipend paid for housing, food, toiletries, the occasional night out. New glasses? Airplane ticket home? Bike broke? Car repairs? That went on my credit card.

Every program is different and everyone's spending as well. Did STEM PhD in high COL and actually saved over $50K during my PhD. Tuition, housing, and insurance were covered by my advisor (my program was funded by the advisor, not the department) which left me with about $1600 for everything else. I am international so I flew home once a year (~1K) and I also two road bikes ($500 for my commuter bike, $2K for my road bike). Don't need glasses and used my wife's car so maybe those expenses broke your budget

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Discourage your kids from going to law school. Most lawyers do not make enough money to merit the cost, especially at a lower ranked school. And the type of work that does offer a high enough salary to justify the cost of law school is really not for most people. This is a major reason so many lawyers are unhappy. If they are making decent money, they are often very unhappy in their jobs. If they are happy in their jobs, they are probably struggling under the weight of their debt.

Law school is a bad deal and we should probably totally overhaul legal education in this system. It should be a one year masters program with a required apprenticeship after which you take the bar to fully qualify. This is much closer to what they do in the UK and other countries and it makes more sense. Our current system treats all law students like future corporate attorneys even though only a very small number actually go this route, and even among those that do, the number that will stay in corporate law long enough to justify 100k+ in loans is even smaller.

Also, if your kid is interested in medicine, I highly recommend investigating whether they could be happy as a nurse practitioner or similar. The training is shorter and less expensive, and you can still make very good money while helping people. I think people should only become doctors if they have a very strong motivation to practice in a specific specialty or to specific things that only a doctor can do (like if you want to be a surgeon or go into certain kinds of medical research). The training is incredibly long and if your ultimate goal is simply to have a medical career, there are lots of other options.

I would disagree. That's a serious over generalization. The vast majority of lawyers are either small or mid-sized firms and not in big law or non-profits/low pay. Most make decent livings, though not the big law money that makes its way onto this forum with such frequency. That said, I did have about $80K in law school loans that I spent nearly 10 years paying back. Of course, I did take 2-3 years off to start my own practice/have kids, but now I have a solo and make decent enough money. I would not recommend law to those individuals who go slave away for huge firms. Likewise, I would not recommend that anyone go to an expensive private law school UNLESS it is a top 10 name recognition school. Go public and pay less money. I would recommend law school to those who can set up their own shop and make their own way. It is so liberating.

but to OP, my law school/grad was paid through loans mostly and concurrent employment at law firms. I think most people do that combo with grad school.

There's public and then there's public. Law school at UVA, Michigan, and UCLA is almost as expensive as Yale. W&M, GMU, UMD--more affordable.

Scalia School of Law is now $52,600 in-state and almost $68,000 OOS.

[Anonymous]

Paid for my first year of a PhD. Taught and was a research assistant for the rest. Paid off my loans within six months of graduating.

It is ok to pay for a year of a PhD if that is normal for your school and field. In my era it was fairly common in my field but if you weren’t funded by second year you move on. At other schools there might be no chance of funding ever if you don’t arrive with it. Don’t go to one of those.

Field and school specific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PHDs are free. JDs can be near free - HYS give only need base aid but schools below Chicago, Columbia, UVA, etc. give out full rides. MBAs don't come with scholarships but many consulting firms will do tuition reimbursement so you only end up paying for 1 year.

I will say... PhDs can be fully funded with a stipend but that doesn’t make them ‘free.’ I didn’t pay a dime for tuition or anything at my PhD school but special expenses add up. My stipend paid for housing, food, toiletries, the occasional night out. New glasses? Airplane ticket home? Bike broke? Car repairs? That went on my credit card.

Every program is different and everyone's spending as well. Did STEM PhD in high COL and actually saved over $50K during my PhD. Tuition, housing, and insurance were covered by my advisor (my program was funded by the advisor, not the department) which left me with about $1600 for everything else. I am international so I flew home once a year (~1K) and I also two road bikes ($500 for my commuter bike, $2K for my road bike). Don't need glasses and used my wife's car so maybe those expenses broke your budget

Your description doesn’t add up to saving $50k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This can’t be said enough. If you can’t get the school to fund you in grad school, it’s not a good decision. Seriously, it’s like going to a fir profit college fir undergrad. Don’t do it.

This is PP from directly above. I totally agree with this, except for professional programs (JD, MBA, MD). Those are essentially full pay for most with a few exceptions. We’re saving to fund a professional degree if that is their interest.

Agreed. If you want one of the above, you need to save for it or they need to be prepared to take out loans.

Agree with other PP that for other degrees, you should be able to get funding through assistantships or fellowships. I didn't pay for a single credit of tuition for my M.S. or Ph.D.

It depends. It isn’t so bad to pay for a year of a PhD, especially if the field is one where a masters gives you a job.private universities have more money for stipends. The state flagships, less so. So where Harvard might give you a grant, Michigan is less likely to have funding with no work obligation. Also, though, if you enter Harvard without that grant, there will never be a grant. Most likely at a top state school there are plenty opportunities for funding after prelims.

But it is the case that it is an unusual circumstance where one would pay for all four+ years of a PhD.

[Anonymous]

Graduated business school with about 130k of loans and lived very frugally to pay it off within 2 years. Don’t regret going at all!

[Anonymous]

If you are paying for a PhD, don't bother. It's not worth it, and you're not in a good enough program.
My DD is in a top PhD program, and they are paying her. It's the only way to get a PhD, IMHO. Don't waste your money on a program you have to pay for.
Law, Medicine and Business schools, are another story entirely. You have to pay, take out loans, get FA (some), or scholarships.
A friend got a full ride to UPenn med school through a scholarship. They are out there, but they are rare. She graduated from HYP with top grades, so I'm sure that helped her win the scholarship.
Other programs, like MA in creative writing, engineering, English, etc., are a mixed bag. Some offer free tuition, some offer teaching fellowships, some you have to finance yourself.
I'm not paying for my kids' grad school. After college, they are on their own.

[Anonymous]

My employer paid for my MBA program. They do this as retention incentives. I’m surprised not to hear more people having their grade schools paid by their employer since it’s pretty standard where I work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My employer paid for my MBA program. They do this as retention incentives. I’m surprised not to hear more people having their grade schools paid by their employer since it’s pretty standard where I work.

Degrees like MBA and MPP should always be covered by employers, whether private sector or federal government. The only people paying out of pocket for these are fools and those who use these programs as a stalling method for entering the real world in lieu of actual work experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My employer paid for my MBA program. They do this as retention incentives. I’m surprised not to hear more people having their grade schools paid by their employer since it’s pretty standard where I work.

Degrees like MBA and MPP should always be covered by employers, whether private sector or federal government. The only people paying out of pocket for these are fools and those who use these programs as a stalling method for entering the real world in lieu of actual work experience.

You know, it's possible to make a point like yours without being such an asshole. Try it.

For the record I know loads of people who paid for their own MBAs, usually after work experience, who have great careers and are are rolling in cash.

[Anonymous]

I would tell me kid to work for 2-3 years and save money. I would only help with some basic living expenses like insurance. Loans are common for professional degrees. That would be a career investment and student would have to do a cost benefit analysis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former professional grad student here (engineering): Through teaching and research assistantships.

+1, got my MS and PhD this way. It requires you dedicating those years to your academics though, so it’s not for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former professional grad student here (engineering): Through teaching and research assistantships.

+1, got my MS and PhD this way. It requires you dedicating those years to your academics though, so it’s not for everyone.

My son got his engineering phd from berkeley but did very little teaching - maybe one semester or two. it was fully funded.

[Anonymous]

My recent college grad decided to knock out a masters while working his first job. In his field (data science/economics) the masters requirement was on a lot of job postings and he just wanted to get it done while still in a study/academic mode. He’s paying for it himself but living at home for the program’s duration. One year down and one year to go.