This question is aimed at people who went to Grad School right after Undergrad. I can’t imagine most peoples’ can afford Grad School, so how is it usually paid for for people who go right out of Undergrad? Thanks!
What type of grad school? MBA, Ph.D., MA?
Ph.D. students usually receive a tuition waiver and a stipend in return for being a research and/or teaching assistant.
Two of my children went directly on to grad school and they paid for it via grad assistantships.
I went to law school in the 1980s. My parents paid. Law school cost a lot less then, but I’m still very appreciative of my parents’ generosity.
My husband and I both had graduate assistantships that paid all but $13 per credit, a small stipend, and we took out student loans that we paid back as quickly as we could after we finished our degrees. We also lived in the cheapest married student housing, cooked most of our own meals, entertained at home by having friends over and doing things like play cards, and other things like that to keep cost down.
One of my kids will be attending grad school immediately after undergrad. We will pay for it with money left in her 529 and the Stafford loan. There are also departmental scholarships that she can apply for - we are not counting on them, but if they come through it will be a pleasant surprise.
I went to grad school immediately after undergrad. I had some student loans- it cost me $120 a month x 10 years.
MPH: loans. Too much.
PhD: it’s paid for + stipend.
PhD should only be pursued if funded.
Parents didn’t help.
“Parents didn’t help.”
I never said they did.
DS went right out of undergrad. Combination of scholarships, assistantship, and loans.
I went two years out of undergrad…but believe me when I say, I didn’t have a nickel saved for grad school. I followed the money…got a grad assistantship at an OOS public that paid tuition, and gave me a small monthly stipend.
Both spouse and I had funding which covered tuition plus stipend. I had non-profit paid internship as part of MPH as well. No loans. No help from parents. It was an amazing awesome opportunity. But agree with @romanigypsyeyes recommend PhD only if fully funded. Ours were, so worth it for us.
I lucked out. A family from my church had established a scholarship at the seminary I attended and the school figured they should award it to me for good public relations. So my Masters was free.
My daughter was also very lucky. You all paid for her degree. There was a two year period in which Obamacare gave generous aid to PA students. Two grants per school and she earned one. $20K for each year. A school grant paid the rest. She had loans for living expenses that we did not have to cosign.
I paid for myself, but way back in the Stone Ages, it was pretty cheap.
Wait. There’s a difference between a Phd and a Master’s Degree.
H’s tuition was waived and a combination of TA and RA. And very cheap married student housing. Found lots of free entertainment in a wonderful college town. Even though his post-doc paid more, we moved to a location that did not have married graduate student housing, and it was very tough. So he only did post-doc for a year.
My grad school was much later in life, after we’d already had kids, so we funded it ourselves.
Agree with others - don’t do Ph.D. unless it’s fully funded.
I also went directly after undergrad. Worked my rear off during the summers saving every penny, took out loans, and got a job as a prefect at a nearby college prep boarding school where I received free room and board.
Unlike Harry Potter prefects 
all prefects at this boarding school were university grad school students, and we basically acted as substitute parents. Great experience that was as fulfilling as it was exhausting, and not having to worry about rent, food, utilities, etc. saved me a small fortune.
DD received full tuition and living expenses stipend for her master’s degree.
She then picked up some work as a grader and as a teaching fellow (leading sections) and graduated with money in the bank.
“Wait. There’s a difference between a Phd and a Master’s Degree.”
Huh? You asked how did you pay for grad school" without specifying the type of the degree. MPH, MBA, M.Sc., L.L.M. and other Master’s degrees are graduate degrees. Ph.D. and J.D. are also graduate degrees… doctorates. So there, you get answers form folks holding all types of *graduate degrees.
M.Sc. CAN be funded, Ph.D. in philosophy… not always.
BTW, getting MPH straight out of undergrad at some top schools is impossible simply because the application requires 2+ years of work experience in a field directly related to public health.
Most people I know either did it part-time, or had a working spouse (and also took some loans to cover the gap)
But what if you wanted to do it full time?
Grad school was totally funded by the school.
I went straight from undergrad to grad school as a PhD candidate in a STEM discipline. Repayment on my undergrad loans was deferred until after I finished grad school.
Full tuition waiver, plus a teaching assistantship, then a research assistantship which paid an adequate stipend to cover living expenses for a modest lifestyle. I shared an apt w a roommate and had enough income to occasionally share pitchers of cheap beer and chicken wings.
One summer spent doing a high-salaried internship in the private sector, which paid me an unexpected, handsome cash scholarship, to try to motivate me to work for them when I graduated.
Returned to school that fall and decided to just wrap it up w only a masters degree and took a job in the private sector (but with a different company).
Have been employed in that discipline for more than 20 yrs.