Grad school loans

[Gracie09]

DD took out loans for grad school. Unlike undergraduate loans, grad school loans start accruing interest immediately and the interest rates are higher than those for undergraduate loans.

That depends on the type of loan. I have some subsidized and some unsubsidized federal loans. Some compounded interest and some did not. You have to check the conditions of the loan. OP it comes down to she has to talk to financial aid. Colleges set budgets for students. They are determined based on tuition, fees and cost of living. That is generally the maximum a student may take out but there may be exceptions. She should talk her options through with financial aid.

 

[ez]

The school made her a very generous offer so with everything you all have said it sounds like she couldnt get a startup grad loan for incidentals. The school even raised her offer when they heard what another school offered so Im guessing it is really on the high end on what is ever offered. It even says *notice how this does not include any loans* or something like that. So I do think you all have answered my question. I do think she will have enough to live on and not even need a place with a roommate. It's more like the getting a car thing and her rent in new place is due July 1 even though move in isnt till August first, and she is having rent overlap in her old place that month and the furniture or bed at least as I mentioned. So if grad school loans had been similar to undergrad it might have made sense (which I had no clue but thats why I was inquiring). Ill figure out how to help her with start up and car out of my home equity line and she can pay be back per month. We did have an account set up to subsidize her undergrad expenses but thats almost empty now. Thanks so much for all the other great suggestions. Its a very exciting time!!

 

[Happy Snowman]

Most car dealerships have sales and special financing for new grads so that is a possibility. Also, from your other posts, it sounds like the school she is going to is very walkable and has good public transportation. Maybe hold off on the car until she knows she needs it?

 

[minkydog]

When DH and I first started out the only furniture we had were a bed, a set of dresser drawers, and a ficus tree. Your DD can live without a whole set of furnishing for her apartment, if it means taking out loans.

We used large pillows for sitting around our living room, a box to hold our TV, ate at our kitchen counter until we found a table and chairs for cheap. I'd suggest not buying anything new. Give her a few pieces from your house if you can do without.

Wait, did I write this post? When DH got his first job after graduation, we had 4 days to move from the Gulf Coast with our meager possessions and our student loans in a U-Haul trailer to a tiny apartment in Atlanta. We had exactly: our bed, a 13" B&W TV, some dishes and old pots & pans, and a few towels & washcloths. We put the TV on top of a stack of textbooks and sat on the floor to watch. We didn't have any lamps, sofa, or tables for several months. We had to haul our laundry down to the coin laundry for the first 2 years. But it was okay because it was an adventure. We didn't want to go into debt for anything, so we did everything we could to save as much money as we could as fast as we could. We didn't have cable TV. We didn't go to first-run movies, just the dollar theater. We took advantage of every free event offered in a 10-mile area--band practices, library club, chorus concerts, church events. We didn't run the A/C. We didn't eat out, in fact, we ate a LOT of beans & rice and mac & cheese. Oh, and watermelon. Watermelon is cheap in GA in August, and we ate a whole lot of it. And we sure as heck didn't go anywhere remotely like a vacation. Over the next 6 months we managed to a acquire a small second-hand dinette and a brand new couch with matching chair. I refinished a coffee table, found an inexpensive lamp, and we were in business Far from feeling sad about our situation, we were having the time of our life!

 

[leebee]

Wait, did I write this post? When DH got his first job after graduation, we had 4 days to move from the Gulf Coast with our meager possessions and our student loans in a U-Haul trailer to a tiny apartment in Atlanta. We had exactly: our bed, a 13" B&W TV, some dishes and old pots & pans, and a few towels & washcloths. We put the TV on top of a stack of textbooks and sat on the floor to watch. We didn't have any lamps, sofa, or tables for several months. We had to haul our laundry down to the coin laundry for the first 2 years. But it was okay because it was an adventure. We didn't want to go into debt for anything, so we did everything we could to save as much money as we could as fast as we could. We didn't have cable TV. We didn't go to first-run movies, just the dollar theater. We took advantage of every free event offered in a 10-mile area--band practices, library club, chorus concerts, church events. We didn't run the A/C. We didn't eat out, in fact, we ate a LOT of beans & rice and mac & cheese. Oh, and watermelon. Watermelon is cheap in GA in August, and we ate a whole lot of it. And we sure as heck didn't go anywhere remotely like a vacation. Over the next 6 months we managed to a acquire a small second-hand dinette and a brand new couch with matching chair. I refinished a coffee table, found an inexpensive lamp, and we were in business Far from feeling sad about our situation, we were having the time of our life!

You and me too! DH and I rented a furnished apartment for the summer after grad school (master's degrees), as we needed to stick around and finish rewrites on our theses and get ready for our move to Syracuse, where DH earned his PhD. My mom gave us a double bed w/box spring and my sister donated a very old dining room table with 5 chairs (she was an antique dealer and this was one antique in such bad shape that it was headed for auction anyhow; we still laugh about her "graduation present" to us!). 13" B&W TV (cable didn't exist) and our 2 bikes rounded out our possessions. We rented a small trailer, loaded it up, wrapped it in tarps, and hauled it all to Syracuse behind my 10 year old Datsun 210. We didn't have an apartment; we slept in a flea-bag hotel for 4 nights until we found a place to live. Once we got an apartment, we hit the local "Scratch-n-Dent" and Goodwill, where we bought some VERY used stuff; 2 end tables and a coffee table "set" (that looked like it was a discard from Motel 6) for $10, plates, glasses, household stuff, 3 lamps, a bean bag chair and some floor pillows. We had towels and sheets already, courtesy of my mom's garage. We built bureaus and bookcases using boards and cinder blocks. I remember how exciting it was, after 6 months of saving from DH's grad stipend and my minimum wage job at Zayre's, to buy a couch- a brand new sofa bed from the clearance section at Sears. (FTR, we bought it on Valentine's day in 1987 and it's still in use in our family room!) That's what starting out meant. I don't know anyone who "started out" in their own apartment, without roommates, with new furniture and a new car- or would borrow the money to do so. That's not starting out… that's a living situation towards which we all worked! For us, going to grad school meant you were still a student and still lived like one.

 

[bdcp]

My DIL is 29 and is still paying on her grad school student loans that she used to pay for school and live on, as well as working part-time. Think long and hard about loans to live on or buy "stuff" with. Her furniture either was given to her by friends/family or bought at goodwill. She had a very small apartment so we're talking a bed (from IKEA that her parents bought her), a small dresser, a kitchen table, sofa, love seat and that was it. Both my DS and their friends/roomates at college picked up all their furniture (except beds which they brought from home) at Goodwill and Salvation Army. No one "needs" new furniture. Towels and linens can be bought for cheap or brought from home. I also bought both DS dishes and utensils as well as pots and pans, all which can be bought inexpensively. We have given our kids furniture, linens, etc to get them started after they finished college. Youngest DS and DIL are moving back to VA this week after being in NC for 2 years . They're doubling their square footage so they will be lacking furniture, but I expect they'll hit up local discount stores and I have a few pieces to give them. Both boys had also had a car at college that we had bought. Once they graduated and had full-time jobs which they both did right away, they had the choice of buying the car they were driving from us, or buying something else. I agree with the going to grad school means you're still a student.

 

[firecracker725]

Does she work? Dd18 is away at college, but she knows she has to work during school breaks in order to have spending money throughout the year (same with ds17, but he's just a junior in high school). I did the same in college.

If she's in a PhD program, there's really no such thing as a school break. It's a 4-5 year, full-time job. When you're not taking classes or teaching, you're grading papers or writing tests or doing research.

 

[bdcp]

I don't know anyone who is in a grad program that doesn't have a part-time job. My dad did it in the 60's while married with children and working part-time on top of teaching (part of his scholarship and stipend) and doing research at the University where he got his PhD. And, my mom did not work. She tried watching a child for extra money, but his mother brought him to our house several times pretty sick so she quit after a few months. If I remember right, he gave us the mumps.

 

[Sadie22]

The OP's daughter is about to enter a PhD program. Some programs offer additional funding for grad students to be on campus and do research during the summer breaks, if not teaching summer classes, or to travel elsewhere to do research with colleagues. Students can apply to various programs - I'm thinking National Science Foundation, but perhaps there are others - for funding.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I don't know much about PhD programs, but I agree with avoiding loans for living expenses. Years from now it will be like she's paying double living expenses, and one is hard enough these days. There are other ways to make due while in grad school, as many have attested.

Reading some of your stories is like a trip down Memory Lane, though. (Haven't seen anything about Zayer's in a while grew up going there.) During college DH and I were like many of you. Our first apartment was tiny, and essentially all of our furnishings and housewares were donated from family and friends. Someone gave us an old style waterbed that was cold and very bouncy when you moved. We had a couple of Archie Bunker style easy chairs, didn't have a sofa till much later. Dining set was from DH's grandparents (and DSIL still uses it today). My parents gave us towels and dishes. A friend of mine had bought double sets of frying pans, she gave us the second set (and we used them for close to 30 years, have only recently started to replace them). I loved going into Salvation Army, Goodwill and other thrift stores to see what I could find. (And I found some good stuff!) We didn't vacation for a long time, and most of our vacations before we had kids were "working" vacations at home, painting or doing yardwork or something like that. Oh, and the car I drove was a fleet car that I got super cheap - it was a hideous color and had the name of a comany on the back, but it got me to school and work so I was happy to have it. I agree, when I look back on it, those years were pretty fun!

Living expenses have gone up so much since then, tho. I've mentioned on other threads like this that many college graduates I know are moving home in their mid to late 20s because, after a while of trying to pay bills and college loans, they realize they're never going to get ahead and wind up living with mom and dad for a while to pay down the loans. I think that often they are a necessary evil, but I'd be very careful with them because, while they seem great now, when payment is due it can be really difficult, especially in this day and age.

Anyway, congratulations to your DD, and I wish her well with her studies!

 

[disykat]

I spent my first year after college in an apartment with the only furniture being a folding table with two chairs (an early birthday present from my parents - that I still have btw) and a pallet on the floor I made from old sleeping bags etc. It really was fine. It had a linen closet with shelves that I used as a dresser along with some strategically placed cardboard boxes. As I got acquainted in the community I moved on to having roommates and collecting some furnishings, but I never had the notion that I was supposed to have everything right away. I was very proud of how I lived on little and wouldn't give up that experience for anything.

I can relate to the allergies and would never buy a used mattress, but there are so many affordable options out there. Making your own mattress palate like I did, air beds, mattress on the floor, etc. that I can't imagine taking out a loan for furniture.

My kids (young adults still in college) already have more than I had with some old furniture of ours and a careful eye on rummage sales etc., but they don't anticipate any new stuff until college is done. My oldest is graduating and already has a good job lined up. I suggested he buy a bed right away (he doesn't have any loans to pay off) and get rid of his childhood twin - he was horrified. He wants to continue to live like a college student and start investing. I've got to laugh, he takes after me!

My guess is that inexpensive furniture or money towards furniture will be my kids only Christmas/Birthday presents for a while.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Big lots has pretty decent couch for 200 or so.

 

[bdcp]

I spent my first year after college in an apartment with the only furniture being a folding table with two chairs (an early birthday present from my parents - that I still have btw) and a pallet on the floor I made from old sleeping bags etc. It really was fine. It had a linen closet with shelves that I used as a dresser along with some strategically placed cardboard boxes. As I got acquainted in the community I moved on to having roommates and collecting some furnishings, but I never had the notion that I was supposed to have everything right away. I was very proud of how I lived on little and wouldn't give up that experience for anything.

I can relate to the allergies and would never buy a used mattress, but there are so many affordable options out there. Making your own mattress palate like I did, air beds, mattress on the floor, etc. that I can't imagine taking out a loan for furniture.

My kids (young adults still in college) already have more than I had with some old furniture of ours and a careful eye on rummage sales etc., but they don't anticipate any new stuff until college is done. My oldest is graduating and already has a good job lined up. I suggested he buy a bed right away (he doesn't have any loans to pay off) and get rid of his childhood twin - he was horrified. He wants to continue to live like a college student and start investing. I've got to laugh, he takes after me!

My guess is that inexpensive furniture or money towards furniture will be my kids only Christmas/Birthday presents for a while.

Both my sons' had their twin beds until they were into their 20's. Both replaced theirs when they were about 24.

 

[tasha99]

I don't know anyone who is in a grad program that doesn't have a part-time job. My dad did it in the 60's while married with children and working part-time on top of teaching (part of his scholarship and stipend) and doing research at the University where he got his PhD. And, my mom did not work. She tried watching a child for extra money, but his mother brought him to our house several times pretty sick so she quit after a few months. If I remember right, he gave us the mumps.

That's very dependent upon course of study. In my program, there were two woman out of a cohort of 25 who had work study. The only way they made it work was they monitored a computer lab late at night, when no one actually needed any help. They did their reading then. No one else did any sort of work and no GTA/GTF positions were available for Masters students (all slots for GTFs required a Masters and a state license, so they went to PhD students). Hours ranged from 60 at the best to 80 at the most insane, so I'm not sure how a job would ever work (reading, homework, class, clinical/practicum hours, writing a thesis).* No part time students were allowed at the start either, though about a fifth of my class didn't finish on time because they requested a slower schedule partway through the program. My little sister got her MA in English literature. She was able to earn her tuition as a GTF--in essence, she got paid for her practicum hours (she teaches at a university now). No such luxury for future speech language pathologists when I was in school.

Btw, that was easily the worst two years of my life. I worked part time as a legal secretary while I took postbac courses to get in the program, but had no idea how crazy the demands of grad school would be. I came home to feed my kids, and then went back to the clinic to study in one of the treatment rooms, where it was quiet and I had easy access to all our materials, often until midnight. Towards the end, my kids actually started talking about moving in with their dad because I was never home. It sucked so incredibly bad. Now my DD22 is graduating in the same field (as an undergrad) and is considering doing the same.

 

[leebee]

Most of the grad students I knew/know did not pay for their own educations. Of course it depends on field of study, but everyone I knew in grad school had a tuition waiver AND an assistantship that paid a small stipend (in 1985 mine was $5000; in 1986 at a different school in a different program, DH's was $9000). In exchange for the stipend, you are expected to either conduct research for your advisor (which ends up being the topic of your dissertation) or teach, depending on your year and major. For example, DH taught two sections of general chemistry lab his first year, after which (the next 4 years) he conducted research. Friends in English or Psych all taught for two years; lucky students then had research positions, but the money isn't as abundant as it was in the sciences. Regardless of whether you were teaching or doing research, all assistantships prohibited outside employment. You are expected to put in your time for the university. Honestly, as your years go by, you need more and more time for reading and writing (thesis, journal articles, presentations at conferences) and if you are also taking a couple of classes and teaching, you are MORE than busy. I would not count on being able to hold an outside job to help make ends meet; both your time commitment and possibly your contractual agreement may make it impossible. I would STRONGLY recommend renting an apartment (even with roommates even if they are strangers) the your daughter knows she can afford to pay for with her stipend, leaving enough "room" in the stipend for utilities (if not included in the rent), food, gas (if she has a car), etc.

 

[MouseLover]

If I remember correctly, grad school loans do extend to living expenses.
It is better to get ed loan than home equity.