Anonymous wrote:I always read about saving for college... how about graduate studies? Are they less a problem in terms of financing? I am worried that eventually, even if we put money aside for college, the kids will still need to take loans which will be a burden for many years after (if they go to college and continue studying after college). Any views (we did not go to college)?

Anonymous wrote:Can't speak to law school or med school - but if getting a Phd, go to the school that will give you a full tuition stipend and will offer teaching assistant or research assistant jobs. I didn't pay a penny to the school for my Ph.D.

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.

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Anonymous wrote:Parents here. We told our kids we will pay for everything. college, grad school, med school, law school. We are not rich but we live frugally for our HHI and we can afford it somehow.

If you can afford 4 years of a SLAC or OOS and Med School for multiple kids, you're almost certainly rich. Between the two, you're looking at a half million per child, most people can't put that much money aside in addition to saving for retirement

Anonymous wrote:Parents here. We told our kids we will pay for everything. college, grad school, med school, law school. We are not rich but we live frugally for our HHI and we can afford it somehow.

Anonymous wrote:Two different types of graduate school programs - professional (doctor, lawyer, vet, pharmacist, etc.). These are rarely funded. You take out loans, work, go part time, etc., because you are expected to get a nice salary when you're done.

Then there are the Ph.D. track programs - take a hard look if you're not getting departmental funding.

Then there are more academic with possible professional implications - a master's in statistics, for example. Be careful here, because it may or may not be worth it.

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Anonymous wrote:Parents here. We told our kids we will pay for everything. college, grad school, med school, law school. We are not rich but we live frugally for our HHI and we can afford it somehow.

You are a great parent! Can you explain the “somehow”? What does your annual saving look like? Do you use 529s or something else?

I don't think it makes you a "great parent" to "live frugally" and pay for your kids' law school and med school. I think it's going overboard. But that's just me.

I think the future is very uncertain for our children. Many of the well-paying medical careers of today could be much less lucrative if progressive policies continue. I want to put my children in the very best possible position for financial freedom. If that means living in a $1.5M home, public school K-12 education and one vacation a year instead of a $2.5M home, private schools and three vacations a year, so be it.

There are Youtube videos by med students who paid off $200,000-$400,000 loans in a matter of 2 or 3 years. Their salary out of school will be $250,000+. Think and live like a resident, living on less than $50,000 per year. Save the difference - approximately $200,000 (before tax). In 2 or 3 years, paying off med school loan is possible. For a large loan, $400,000, the student would have to go into a lucrative subfield, surgery, neurology, dermatology, etc. With an income of some $500,000 per year, living like a resident for the first few years, a $400,000 loan paid off in 2 years is doable.

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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.

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Anonymous wrote:I have two friends that worked for law schools (e.g., Georgetown) and received tuition remission. It took longer to finish law school--5 years vs 3 years--but they graduated with significantly less debt.

Another friend attended med school and had some funding (small scholarship/fellowship). They also had most of their loans forgiven through a state loan forgiveness program.

I was fully funded for my PhD program.

I now advise my undergrad students to find a job at a university with a grad program they are interested in, apply to programs that have assistantships, or consider programs that pay off loans after graduation.

For someone planning to go into Big Law, taking 5 years vs 3 years to graduate really doesn't make financial sense from a opportunity cost perspective. If planning in public interest, this might be a good calculation.

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Anonymous wrote:Parents here. We told our kids we will pay for everything. college, grad school, med school, law school. We are not rich but we live frugally for our HHI and we can afford it somehow.

You are a great parent! Can you explain the “somehow”? What does your annual saving look like? Do you use 529s or something else?

I don't think it makes you a "great parent" to "live frugally" and pay for your kids' law school and med school. I think it's going overboard. But that's just me.

I think the future is very uncertain for our children. Many of the well-paying medical careers of today could be much less lucrative if progressive policies continue. I want to put my children in the very best possible position for financial freedom. If that means living in a $1.5M home, public school K-12 education and one vacation a year instead of a $2.5M home, private schools and three vacations a year, so be it.

There are Youtube videos by med students who paid off $200,000-$400,000 loans in a matter of 2 or 3 years. Their salary out of school will be $250,000+. Think and live like a resident, living on less than $50,000 per year. Save the difference - approximately $200,000 (before tax). In 2 or 3 years, paying off med school loan is possible. For a large loan, $400,000, the student would have to go into a lucrative subfield, surgery, neurology, dermatology, etc. With an income of some $500,000 per year, living like a resident for the first few years, a $400,000 loan paid off in 2 years is doable.

Anonymous wrote:I have two friends that worked for law schools (e.g., Georgetown) and received tuition remission. It took longer to finish law school--5 years vs 3 years--but they graduated with significantly less debt.

Another friend attended med school and had some funding (small scholarship/fellowship). They also had most of their loans forgiven through a state loan forgiveness program.

I was fully funded for my PhD program.

I now advise my undergrad students to find a job at a university with a grad program they are interested in, apply to programs that have assistantships, or consider programs that pay off loans after graduation.