I'm an "anyone else."
This is a timely discussion for me. I did not go into debt for my undergraduate degree, and am determined to find a way now to do my masters with at least very minimal amounts of debt.
I would love any guidance anyone can offer. Here are my stats:
1. I have been admitted with a full tuition scholarship, but still need money for fees, books, commuting expenses (unless we sell or rent out our house and move), etc.
2. I also have not been offered a living expense stipend, which some schools do offer to some students.
3. I have been the primary "breadwinner" in my family. My dw has limited earning potential. However, I am not sure that I can succesfully go to school and work at the same time, at least not work full-time as I am now. Thus we will have a near $0 income if I accept this offer until dw finds more work (she currently is doing in-home childcare, which does help out a lot, but she has no kids lined up as of summer and I am not sure she can continue doing it and stay sane).
4. If we are able to sell or rent out our house and move closer to the school, where housing is cheaper, we could probably reduce our monthly expenses by $300-400. If we can find a rental with utilities included, the savings will be even greater.
5. Renting out our house is complicated by it being an older home in a state with extremely strict lead laws for rentals and us having a pool (no yard, just a pool...nothing at all fancy, but it is a part of our investment here and needs care to stay in good condition).
6. If dw gets a job outside the home, her maximum earning potential (pre-tax) is probably a little over 50% of what we need monthly for survival. Then we'd have taxes and the cost of a significant number of hours for childcare.
If we lived on loans, we could easily surpass $50,000 in debt during my time in school...maybe even get up to the $80,000 range total. That is clearly not wise.
Thoughts on our steps:
1. We have inquired with our realtor about selling our house and it looks like we'd take a significant financial loss in doing so, which isn't feasible (we'd have to sell for under the value of our loan, for example). Thus our best bet is to rent out the house, and I am looking into doing that currently.
2. dw needs to find a job, with flexible hours so we don't have increased costs related to childcare. Even if she can't earn a lot, every bit will help.
3. I need to apply for additional scholarships and grants.
4. Once I quit work, or reduce my hours, depending on which I do, we need to apply for foodstamps.
What else can we do? I have been offerred a slot in a program at Yale, for example, and would hate to give that up for financial reasons but even with the full tuition scholarship I am not in a good position. I sure wish dw had greater earning potential!
This is a timely discussion for me. I did not go into debt for my undergraduate degree, and am determined to find a way now to do my masters with at least very minimal amounts of debt.
I would love any guidance anyone can offer. Here are my stats:
1. I have been admitted with a full tuition scholarship, but still need money for fees, books, commuting expenses (unless we sell or rent out our house and move), etc.
2. I also have not been offered a living expense stipend, which some schools do offer to some students.
3. I have been the primary "breadwinner" in my family. My dw has limited earning potential. However, I am not sure that I can succesfully go to school and work at the same time, at least not work full-time as I am now. Thus we will have a near $0 income if I accept this offer until dw finds more work (she currently is doing in-home childcare, which does help out a lot, but she has no kids lined up as of summer and I am not sure she can continue doing it and stay sane).
4. If we are able to sell or rent out our house and move closer to the school, where housing is cheaper, we could probably reduce our monthly expenses by $300-400. If we can find a rental with utilities included, the savings will be even greater.
5. Renting out our house is complicated by it being an older home in a state with extremely strict lead laws for rentals and us having a pool (no yard, just a pool...nothing at all fancy, but it is a part of our investment here and needs care to stay in good condition).
6. If dw gets a job outside the home, her maximum earning potential (pre-tax) is probably a little over 50% of what we need monthly for survival. Then we'd have taxes and the cost of a significant number of hours for childcare.
If we lived on loans, we could easily surpass $50,000 in debt during my time in school...maybe even get up to the $80,000 range total. That is clearly not wise.
Thoughts on our steps:
1. We have inquired with our realtor about selling our house and it looks like we'd take a significant financial loss in doing so, which isn't feasible (we'd have to sell for under the value of our loan, for example). Thus our best bet is to rent out the house, and I am looking into doing that currently.
2. dw needs to find a job, with flexible hours so we don't have increased costs related to childcare. Even if she can't earn a lot, every bit will help.
3. I need to apply for additional scholarships and grants.
4. Once I quit work, or reduce my hours, depending on which I do, we need to apply for foodstamps.
What else can we do? I have been offerred a slot in a program at Yale, for example, and would hate to give that up for financial reasons but even with the full tuition scholarship I am not in a good position. I sure wish dw had greater earning potential!
