This doesn't make sense to me...help!

[Om Girl]

I just received my financial aid award letter and the amounts of aid offered just cover my tuition and books.

How do people afford to go back to school when they have kids, a mortgage and a car payment? I don't understand how others make this looks so easy.

[honeybunmom]

A girlfriend of mine hustled her bum off knocking on professors' doors to get paid positions with them. She is in graduate school, though. If you're finishing your undergrad, this may not work. She has 2 kids, ages 5 and 2. And it is tough on her and her husband.

[dealic]

My husband is getting no financial aid. We are saving up in advance, and I am working full time while he works parttime through school. We don't have kids or a mortgage though we do have a rent payment. We are also working to pay off a ton of debt while we put him through school. It involves living on very little money and working as much as we can.

[lazzybee]

Undergrads work part time or get loans. Grad students teach for a stipend or receive a fellowship.

[VisionaryMom]

Originally Posted by lazzybee

Undergrads work part time or get loans. Grad students teach for a stipend or receive a fellowship.

Indeed. I've encountered lots of undergrads lately who say they "can't" work because of school. I just laugh at the silliness.

OP, you work, take out loans, or take fewer classes. I know what you mean, though, about others making it look easy. Someone posted a couple of days ago about using Pell grant money for Disney, and that irks me. It really, truly does because that's public money that could go to someone who needs it and won't spend it on a vacation. I think the way we fund students in this country is really problematic for many reasons.

[shayinme]

I took out loans and worked. I got a few scholarships but nothing substantial.

[Peony]

I had the opposite problem, my first few classes are still considered undergrad and then it switches to the "official" grad program. The amount of money they were offering me was extreme. Much more then I needed, I ended up taking 1/3 of the offered amount. Last degree I paid for it myself so this whole financial aid thing is new to me.

ETA: I still work, but my paycheck is small because I don't work that many hours so we are used to just DH's salary. I just need the money to cover the tuition.

[MyTwoAs]

Are you currently working and need to stop working in order to go to school? If so then I can see your conundrum and in that case I'd look for part-time work, a work-at-home job or push off schooling until you can save up enough money to handle the cut in pay.

If you aren't already working and the household bills are paid via your spouse's income what additional expenses will you need to pay for that the financial aid award doesn't cover? This will help us help you brainstorm ideas on how to cover these expenses.

I was a stay at home mom when I went back in the fall of 2007. I just graduated this May. My husband is the primary breadwinner and so I started my own business to cover school-related costs. There were no child care expenses as my program was online.

[Drummer's Wife]

Financial aid takes all sorts of variables into consideration. The biggest, of course, is your family's income. If you and your DH were working in 2009, it's surprising that you even get your classes and books paid for. Many people get much less than that in grants. It's based on your EFC. I don't know that you were working, but since you mentioned mortgage, etc., I assumed you going to school would make it harder to also work a full-time job that you depend on to pay expenses. Family size is a factor, too. We have four kids, and only one income - so I qualify for the maximum pell grant... which is only $5,500 for the whole year. Subtract tuition, books, and fees, and I certainly don't have enough to pay towards our cost of living. I will have enough, this semester, to replace my laptop that keeps freezing up and losing my work. But I attend a community college, which means my classes are cheap.

For undergrad, I think a lot of people include student loans when they say they get enough money to pay for housing, car, etc. Grad school, as it's been mentioned, is different. There are scholarships, and it's good to apply for them, but many just sutract the amount of grant money you get from the government - so either way, you really don't end up with tons extra.

[EdnaMarie]

I just received my financial aid award letter and the amounts of aid offered just cover my tuition and books

What else do you need to pay for? Doesn't that cover it all? Or, like a PP mentioned, did you quit your job to go to school? In that case, yeah, you'll have to work part-time. I worked 60 hrs / week for most of my college career, and while I know that WOH is nothing compared to staying with little kids, I still think you should be able to work a good 20 to make the car payment, no? I mean, you don't have more than 20 hrs / week in classes, max.

If someone is using a Pell Grant to go to freaking Disney, excuse me, I'm going to go throw up. I ate nothing but Ramen noodles my last two years, I had no money and no grants at all. That's absurd!

[Ola_]

Save up money ahead of time, take out loans, or work part time (or some combination thereof). You can also look into any grants or scholarships outside of your school, through community organizations and the like, to help you out.

[surrogate]

Student Loans...at the max. I use the $$ to supplement my income (Home Daycare). My EFC is 0 though, so I get max pell....

[imbarefoot]

My husband is getting his way through school by scholarships and FA. He's currently working on his Bachelors at Evergreen State College, after just graduating with an AA. After he completes his Bachelors, he'll go for his Masters at Evergreen as well. At that point, he plans to enter the workforce (God willing!) and work on his Doctorate evenings/weekends online.

He has done 100% of his schooling by scholarships and FA. FA doesn't reward much, like you said. It covers tuition and books. However, he's tapped into resources like TRIO and uses their loaner books, so he rarely has to buy books. He also tries to pick his books up at local garage sales. We've had good luck finding some he needs, and others he doesn't that we pick up for a dollar and sell to the school for $30-75! Back to scholarhips, he spends significant time and effort on this. He uses local resources at the school like TRIO who help point you in the direction of all the scholarships to apply for, when there is open money to anyone who applies, help with writing your essays and even free printing. My husband also takes the time to get excellent referral letters from past teachers, as well as taking the time to write out thoughtful thank you notes back to those teachers. I think most people think scholarships are too much work to apply for or that they won't get scholarships for whatever reason. What we have found it, is that although you do want to put in some time and effort, the rewards are well worth it! My husband has changed his "major" ohhhh 4 times? And he just tailors his essay to whatever he's going for at the moment, hehe.

As of this upcoming year, my husband just recieved a 3 year, full ride scholarship to the Evergreen State College, as well as nearly 30,000 in scholarships (8 of that however, is student loans and 2 of that is work study-neither of which he plans to use). He also still recieves FA. He also has gotten other small scholarships (1000 and less). Because of his hard work, it provides him with the ability to not only go to school, but to be able to NOT work while he does so, giving him more time to focus on his schoolwork and get top notch grades. We live off of his FA and scholarship money, and although things are tight, we are able to live comforable and frugally in Olympia. Which isn't the cheapest place to live!

[greenmulberry]

Work, I worked 25 -30 hours a week when getting my bachelors degree, and went to school full time.

Boy I really had to party hard to unwind from all that too!

[SubliminalDarkness]

When I was in school I worked full-time(as did DH) and we had a little one. I didn't get any financial, grants, loans, scholarships, etc.

[Crazybean]

Apply for grants and scholarships.. I get the federal pell grant due to my income BUT I also applied for other grants/scholarships and after all is paid, I get about 2500 back per semester for my living expenses... I also work FT and do school FT while being a mom to a newborn and 3 year old and a wife to my DH. It can happen- you just have to do some research.

[happysmileylady]

My DH is in school full time, and working full time. Financial Aid is paying for school, working full time is paying to live. Which is really what financial aid and working are for. Financial aid isn't meant to pay for school AND the rest of your life, just school. And if you got enough financial aid to cover your entire tuition and your books, you are in good shape, we still had to drop $375 on DH's books this year (stupid classes require school designed bundles, things you can't get on ebay or other college textbook routes because there are things in the bundles that are designed and put together by the school and professer uniquely for that class )

Also, I went to college right after high school, but I was also a single mom at the time...I got enough financial aid to cover tuition and books, but nothing to pay for actually living.

[FireWithin]

I worked full time at the university where I got my masters. They pay full tuition for anyone who works for them. I purposefully picked a low(ish) stress job - easy but not very fullfilling, which didn't matter since I only worked there a couple of years.

[K1329]

OP, can you give us some more info? Did grants cover your tuition and books? Or, was it covered by loans, too? I think most students who end up with living expenses money are taking out loans. It can be a good idea to supplement with student loans, under some circumstances, but, they can really be a burden after graduation - especially if you don't end up in a lucrative job. More info, please!
Also, you could start at the local community college - much cheaper - then transfer most credits to a 4 yr. institution to complete your bachelor's. There are ways to make it work, but, personally, I wouldn't go into too much debt unless you're specializing and anticipating a good paying job after graduation.

[EmsMom]

I am in grad school, paying tuition partly with a student loan (although I put aside an amount towards the loan every month so I can pay it off in full as soon as possible), getting alimony and child support, but I am also working 20 hours a week as a clerk, tutoring at another college and working summers at a second job. If there were any classes offered when my kids were in school I could manage more credits but everything is at night, so I only take 9 credits so I can actually see my kids sometimes. Could probably get an assistanceship however, the total money I would make would be less. Somehow everything works but it isn't easy.