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Post by rach on Jun 29, 2009 1:17:40 GMT -5
So i'm thinking about going back to uni to do my PhD. I always wanted to do it but after 4 years straight of uni i decided i'd had enough and would take a break and work and have a life for awhile. Now i'm looking into going back and i can't believe how bad the scholarships are!! And how very little they expect us to live off!
The reason i am going the scholarship avenue is because you have to put in 40 contact hours a week- so to try and work on top of that would be extremely hard work.
So if i do it, and if i get it, i will be on $22,000 for three years. That is like basic starting wage. It's $392 a week. To put that in perspective- our rent in $300 a week!
This will be close to half of what i am currently earning and i just don't know if i can make it work. So annoying, because i really want to go back. If only i didn't have all these stupid regular doctors bills and medications to pay for. I spend a rediculous amount on prescriptions each month.
At the most i might be able to top it up $100 a week- on the scholarship we are allowed to work a max of 240 hours A YEAR which is 4 hours a week! Now who's going to hire someone for four hours a week, seriously!!
I really want to do this, but how do i do it without getting into massive debt? My bf is being really good about it, and will obviously help out, but he earns close to what i earn now and that on its own is not enough to support both of us.
(I'm sorry if this comes across as rude to anyone, i know that there are people out there with way worse money troubles than me and for longer than three years and not by choice. i'm not trying to undermind that at all!)
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Post by ouchy on Jun 29, 2009 1:23:09 GMT -5
Do you already have your master's degree, or is this a combination master's/PhD.? If you have your master's, is there any way you can be a student teacher? I know some universities give free tutition and pay you on top of it.
Could you move to cheaper housing?
I know how hard it is to work and go to school. I used to work two jobs, carry 18 hours of 4,000 level classes +25 clock hours of clinical practicum. It was INSANE!
How ever it winds up, you will feel very accomplished!
P.S. Hope you don't have to live on Ramen Noodles. I did. LOL!
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Post by JC on Jun 29, 2009 9:23:31 GMT -5
I am in so much school loan debt it's not even funny. We are living off my husband's income and I just go to school. I planned on going to summer school but didn't get any financial aid so now I can't go which will extend my education another year and consequently another $9,000. I get so frustrated and bitter when I see these annoying little teenage rich kids with their rich parents forking over tons of money for school and living expenses. They don't appreciate what they have. And here I am struggling and constantly set back because I'm not rich. I feel your pain! When I finish medical school I'll be in debt anywhere between $150,000 and $175,000. LOL
Oh and Ouchy, I have a cupboard full of mac n cheese! HAHAHA!
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Post by omaklackey on Jun 29, 2009 12:49:28 GMT -5
I know my hubby got tons of grant money, stuff he didn't have to pay back. We ended with basically no debt. Look for grants, They are worth the money. His finacial advisor found a lot of them since they do it all the time. But I don't know if that is typical for advisors to do. I think you can also research it yourself. Especially for a higher learning degree!?
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Post by rach on Jun 29, 2009 20:51:54 GMT -5
Ouchy i have my honours degree, which is sort of similar to masters, so the next step in PhD. I think i would be able to do tutouring at the uni, but again would only be able to do 4 hours per week (including prep and marking time). I won't have to pay any uni fees (for the PhD, i have a debt for my previous 4 years) so it is just living expenses i will need to take care of.
I don't know about cheaper housing, renting is very expensive here at the moment, and we have a cat and a dog so wouldn't be able to move into an apartment. It's definately something i'll keep my eye on though.
Thanks for the suggestion on grants Karla i'll definately have to look into it! I think in general there are a lot more grants geared towards science and medical degrees, not creative arts ones, but it is still worth a look. What did your husband do?
Wowsers Jenaya thats a lot of debt! I did an arts degree so mine is WAY less than that, thank god!
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Post by JC on Jun 30, 2009 6:24:20 GMT -5
LOL I'm a science degree and I got a whole $900 in grant money. Aren't they so generous! I guess I should just be grateful.
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Post by ouchy on Jun 30, 2009 11:25:48 GMT -5
Yah. I spent hours and hours and hours researching grants for school back when I was pre-med. It led me nowhere. I had a pretty good scholarship, but it didnt' cover all of tuition, and it covered 0 for room-and-board and 0 for books.
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Post by omaklackey on Jun 30, 2009 12:22:55 GMT -5
Grants are tricky because its so hard to find out the information on them. We were fortunate that we had help looking. I dont' remember the exact amount we went away with but It was probably close to 8,000 dollars. It paid for almost three of the four sememsters of school. We also found several grants from local areas, We got grants from the ladies Aux. group and his current boss had a 2500 dollar grant. We found grants in some strange places like the Lions, and VFW. So you have to get creative. My husband went to a univeristy to become a paramedic. We choose the uni since we were able to get grants etc. Have you talked to one of the finacial advisors? We had the same problem as you though in that there was no way he was going to be able to work while going to school. He had to have 160 patient contacts, 1600 hours of time as a medic, and on... and on... there was hospital hours, and surgery hours and obstetrics hours (his favorite, NOT, you would have that he could have gotten credit for our three births) He even had to sit at the poison control center for 48 hours. He had some college under his belt so was considered a junior.
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Post by ouchy on Jun 30, 2009 12:35:37 GMT -5
I checked out all of those. Probably depends on the city/town you're from and how much competition is already out there for them.
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Post by omaklackey on Jun 30, 2009 14:59:08 GMT -5
The best way to look for grants is to start with anything your already involved with. That was how we found the ladies AUx grants and Lions and things like that. Are You involved with any organizations? The grants always go to the people who are already involved. Like Ouchy said the grants have competition so they are going to give them to people they know already.
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Post by ouchy on Jun 30, 2009 15:20:45 GMT -5
Back in the day, I used FastWeb. Don't know if that is still around. If it is, it will come up with some realy wonky grants and scholarships and whatnot. Search for it.
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Post by JC on Jul 1, 2009 11:08:50 GMT -5
yeah fastweb is still around. I use it.
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Post by rach on Jul 3, 2009 9:20:15 GMT -5
Unfortunately i'm not involved in any groups or anything, so i wouldn't realy know where to start!! I have found that there are a few grants dedicated to helping women study, and i think once i know what topic i want to focus on it'll help me find a direction to look for extra money and support.
Thanks so much though girls its been really interesting to see your thoughts.
Well applications close on 31st October, so i've got until then to come up with a really good thesis topic! Argh and i have no ideas (all this stress will be for nothing if i dont get accepted!)
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