How to realistically pay for grad school? [Master of Public Health; has $57k+ debt from undergraduate]

I worked at a grad school, and my students borrowed a lot of money. I really worried about the younger students who still owed for their undergraduate loans. At the end of the two year program, I met with each student to discuss repayment. Students were shocked by the interest that had accumulated while they were in school, making their unpaid loans even larger.

The students who worked for a number of years before coming to graduate school were able to repay their undergrad loans before borrowing for graduate school. They were able to borrow less, because they had built up some savings. They were attractive scholarship candidates because they had accomplishments in the workplace. And a bonus … they knew why they were in grad school, which allowed them to get more out of it (and they were also better able to establish connections with professors and visiting lecturers).

My advice is to work incredibly hard to try to find a job that will allow you to pay your loans off. Avoid the trap of spending money that you don’t need to spend on things that you don’t need to buy. Have a goal of getting out of debt. Cross the grad school bridge later.

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