I’ve got financial aid on the mind. I think this is a side effect of writing a paper on financial aid policy shifts in the last 25 years. Or it might be because I recently checked my BAR account and saw that I owed almost $3,000 for winter quarter fees. Yikes. It’s a good thing I have a research assistant position which pays my fees.
For grad school, I’ve paid my fees, rent and other education expenses through a combination of fellowships, research assistantships (covers my fees/tuition), work (up to 30 hours a week), student leadership stipend (e.g., vice president of external affairs stipend) and loans to help make ends meet. I don’t mind working because my work helps me polish my research skills and the cool students I work with help keep me sane. I’m not a starving graduate student, but I’m not rich either.
Undergrad was a different story. I’ll get to that later.
La Pregunta: But what about you? How did you pay your way through college? If you’re still in college, who is bankrolling your education?
I have the ‘rents to thank for that one. I’m pretty sure my mom started putting money in my college fund the second she found out she was pregnant.
Grants from the college, a few grand in scholarships from local groups, workstudy, and loans. It was about 80% grants, 20% loans. Took me 15 years to pay off the loans (I wasn’t rushing to do it, low interest rate), but I still think it was well worth it.
Entre financial aid, mis papas y un poco de trabajo. Voy a estar endeudado por un buen rato.
My company…pays everything. Including parking, books, and time off. Even if I have classes right in the middle of the work day.
Undergrad…still deferring those loans.
Community college: out of my pocket.
Chapman University: 70% scholarships, 10% loan–but keep in mind that tuition there ran$20,000.
UCLA Grad School: First year was paid and with stipend, second year I used the stipend to pay.
I went to four years of a private liberal arts college in California. At the time, tuition (including room & board) was in the range of $32-36k; it’s now closer to $45k, and it’s not yet been four years since graduation. I got a partial merit scholarship, nearly $10k per year in Cal Grants, my parents contributed what they could, and the rest was met with a sizeable chunk in Stafford loans and a bigger chunk in non-deferrable no-interest institutional loans. The fact that I can’t defer my biggest loan is part of the reason I haven’t started grad school yet, aside from not yet knowing what I want to study. I reeeeeally don’t look forward to more debt, which is why I must be absolutely certain about any grad program I choose.
PS. The irony is that I would have likely had more debt had I gone to a UC.
Undergrad: annual Cal Grants, mami and papi, workstudy, and full-time summer jobs (when lucky otherwise, part-time)
Grad: first year–stipend and workstudy during the year and full-time summer job, the second year–student loans and workstudy and paid internship and part-time job (still paying those loans)
AJ is fantastically lucky or simply not a first or second generation immigrant nor a common LA latino. God-willing, my future kids will be AJs.
GI Bill… No joke. I was one of those suckered in 1st generation Latino kids.
Wuts a colage?
Undergrad: full ride (big scholarship and grants).
Graduate school: 10% percent grants/scholarships, 90% loans (about 115K).
It blows.
As of now, a massive scholarship from the school and many private scholarships. the future years, I don’t know…