Money for Grad School

[Abe Sargent]

Okay, so here's the deal. I wanna go back to Seminary. I've been given the second best Scholarship available which is half off. That's great, right?

Right?


Cost of Tuition is roughly 11000 for the year.
Cost of Room is 9000 with a tiny sub-200 ft studio apartment
Cost of Utilities is roughly 2000
Cost of Food is roughly 3000
Cost of Cheap Medical Plan is roughly 1000
Cost of Transportation is roughly 1200
Cost of Fees and Books are roughly 1000
Cost of Miscellaneous Expenses (toiletries, clothes, academic software and supplies, etc) is roughly 1000

That means my estimated requirement without regard for anything extra is roughly 29,200 for one year. That does not include things such as entertainment, relocation, purchasing furniture for an unfurnished apartment, and so forth.


My total aid package is 21000 for full time, and that includes all aid. Subtract half tuition Scholarship, and I can get, roughly, 15k in loans from the fin aid office. Subtract 5500 from Tuition, and I need another 8k at least, and considering other costs not included, my estimate is another 5k this year and another 3k the year after. So, 11-13k per year that is NOT covered by aid. This is right at the estimated cost of attendance, so I'm not overestimating or anything.


Okay, I applied for 8000 loan from Sallie Mae, but was told that they distribute money via my school's fin aid office. I talked to the office, and any money from SM would could against my 21k aid package, so I would lose government loans on a dollar to dollar basis. I checked out other student loan programs from banks and Discover, but the same thing applies.



So, where does a full time student go to get the money to pay for college? I send out an e-mail asking that of the fin aid office and got a bit of a runaround answer, so I asked the question again more specifically, and I hope to get a more specific answer tomorrow. In the meantime.

Where do I go for money? Even if I got a part time job, 20 hours a week, that's not nearly enough to cover my extra expenses. I can't study full time with an academically rigorous degree and class load while taking a full time job too. Any scholarships I get count against my Aid package, so that won't help me pay for college. I could get a scholarship for 20k and I'd still need another 13k for this year.

What ideas or thoughts do you have?

[Young Drachma]

Short of any private scholarships you can find within your particular religious affiliation, church community or whatever else; I imagine your only hope is going to be loans.

If they've given you an aid package that's got a scholarship in it, there's probably not more than you can do for you.

Which sucks, but...that's honestly the nature of the beast in situations like this. Fellowships, graduate assistantships and such alike would be possibilities at a school connected to a larger, more endowed university but even then...I think the nature of choosing a field like this is going to limit your options severely no matter the nobility of the cause.

You have to consider what you're paying out, what you'll be making when you graduate and decide whether you can truly afford it and whether or not there are any more cost-effective solutions/programs for you. Easier to do it before you start, than to show up and not be able to finish because you ran out of money.

[molson]

Can any other schools do better than half off? I'd consider waiting a year, saving money, and somehow improve my application to where I can get a full ride somewhere. No idea if that's realistic.

[stevew]

I'd gotta think you can do better on the housing..there's gotta be a way to get in on a 3-4 person split that knocks that money down substantially

[Peregrine]

Wow that room seems a bit expensive for what you're getting - is that on campus? If not, you should look at getting your own apartment and a roommate - can save a lot of money. Of course if this is in New York City or something then all bets are off. That is definitely quite a bind to be in.

Do you have some time before this starts? If so can you work two jobs and save up money for some of the costs?

[stevew]

As far as aid goes, I don't know how much better you can do on that. You should be able to work some during the summer month.

[Young Drachma]

Also, why seminary specifically?

[JPhillips]

What denomination? Mainline and Catholic churches are hurting for pastors, so I'm surprised at the cost.

[Abe Sargent]

Short of any private scholarships you can find within your particular religious affiliation, church community or whatever else; I imagine your only hope is going to be loans.



I must not have explained it very well, sorry. I want to talk out more loans, that's fine. But my cap on total loans, scholarships is way less that what I can pay, even through private loans. Private loans are disbursed through fin aid just like public ones, so I can't get more in loans, according to what I've seen thus far.

[Noop]

I would look into gradplus loans if you're not opposed to owing money. A benefit of loans is if you work in certain types of jobs you can have your loan forgiven. I would like to believe that a pastor is one of those things, but with the whole separation between church and state you might want to check that.

What is the state and city of the school you're looking at?

[Abe Sargent]

What denomination? Mainline and Catholic churches are hurting for pastors, so I'm surprised at the cost.

I'm not called to be a pastor. And my tuition cost after scholarship is just 5500 per year, which seems really good compared to other schools.

[Young Drachma]

I must not have explained it very well, sorry. I want to talk out more loans, that's fine. But my cap on total loans, scholarships is way less that what I can pay, even through private loans. Private loans are disbursed through fin aid just like public ones, so I can't get more in loans, according to what I've seen thus far.

I'm not called to be a pastor. And my tuition cost after scholarship is just 5500 per year, which seems really good compared to other schools.

The most significant advantage to going to a seminary besides any theological preferences you might be looking for is ATS accreditation (http://www.ats.edu/Pages/default.aspx) (provided they have it) which would be pretty much necessary to get on as a full-time pastor at any mainstream evangelical (provided we're talking Protestant) church.

Since you're not looking to be a pastor, what are you doing at a seminary? And yeah $5500 after scholarship for tuition for the year isn't bad. And if you can get off campus, get a job (depending on the demands of the program and if they even allow it/dissuade students from doing so.) and lower your other expenses that would otherwise be month-to-month, it ought to be doable since you're not having to come up with all of that money up front.

Including your tuition, which you should be able to put into some kind of monthly or whatever payment plan which should reduce the stress of having to come up with a huge lump sum at once.

If you've explored your other options, don't have a job lined up in lieu of going to school (rendering the whole "wait a year" idea moot) and so this is your best option...then it seems like that would be the best way to make it work.

Perhaps see if other people are looking for roommates, that's usually a really good way to lower expenses too even if you only did it for the first year while you got your bearings in this (presumably) new school situation in a different location than you're currently at.

But if you have some other way of buying yourself time...and you're say studying music or some other auxiliary thing like studying bible or religion...it would behoove you to look at a graduate program in Religion at a mainstream university public or private. You might end up getting more financial aid from them if you're a competitive candidate and there might be additional opportunities for work on campus or in the area the school's in. It really depends on what you've decided to study though.

[Radii]

Where is it? I can't offer any information on the scholarship issues but on the (probably very) slim chance that its the Seminary that's ~2 minutes from my house I'm sure I could help with a lot of other location related stuff :D

[Abe Sargent]

Where is it? I can't offer any information on the scholarship issues but on the (probably very) slim chance that its the Seminary that's ~2 minutes from my house I'm sure I could help with a lot of other location related stuff :D

North of Phily in the suburbs

[Abe Sargent]

The most significant advantage to going to a seminary besides any theological preferences you might be looking for is ATS accreditation (http://www.ats.edu/Pages/default.aspx) (provided they have it) which would be pretty much necessary to get on as a full-time pastor at any mainstream evangelical (provided we're talking Protestant) church.

Since you're not looking to be a pastor, what are you doing at a seminary?

Getting a degree in Theology

[dacman]

AS -- I've worked my entire career in higher ed financial aid.

Shoot me a PM with specifics if you want.

[Abe Sargent]

PM Sent

[Abe Sargent]

I just wanna say publicly that dacman sent a lot of help in a pm and I wanted to give public credit. Thanks!!!

[Young Drachma]

Best of luck. Hope it all works out.

[miked]

There are lots of government programs if you are willing to do service. One of my postdocs is on the NIH loan repayment program where they help pay your undergrad loans (and any graduate loans, though in the sciences for a PhD you are paid) as long as you stay in academia and do some service. I think his is like 2 years. And the good part is that you still qualify for other fellowships while you are doing this. Not sure if there is something equivalent for theology, but it's worth checking.

[Warhammer]

What denomination? Mainline and Catholic churches are hurting for pastors, so I'm surprised at the cost.

Many Catholic organizations will support a seminarian through seminary. We've done it with many at our church.

[dacman]

I just wanna say publicly that dacman sent a lot of help in a pm and I wanted to give public credit. Thanks!!!

You're welcome.