How we're putting the Mrs. through grad school! (so far so sexy)
I can't believe i haven't blogged about this yet! Man, and i call this a personal finance blog? Shoooooooot. Guess losing one salary doesn't merit much around here! haha....So today's post is about how we're putting Mrs. Budgetsaresexy through grad school. AND, you'll be happy to hear that she pulled straight A's this first semester!!! Keep doing your thing baby :)The last i mentioned, the Mrs. had gotten into 2 good schools, but couldn't decide which to choose. School #1 was a more prestigious one (at least in ranking), but didn't offer any scholarship whatsoever, and actually didn't offer her specific major. School #2 offered a full scholarship AND paid teaching assistantship, specialized in her major, but wasn't as highly ranked.
After some visits and budget review w/ yours truly, she *luckily* decided to go w/ School #2 ;) I stood by her her either way, but deep down the financial part of me was like "ohhhhhhhhhhh mama! pick #2, pick #2!". Cuz you have to remember, her schooling now wipes away her hefty $50k/year salary which means we're rolling on ONE salary for 4 years now! So this def. took the sting out a little ;) There's a whole mess of variables that play into this, so i thought i'd break it down a bit for ya:
All amounts needed to cover 1 year while in school:
- $14,400 to cover house/livings expenses normally received from her $50k salary
- $30,000 yearly tuition
- $2,000 miscellaneous fees/books
- TOTAL: $46,400
- $8,000 (est. after taxes) Teaching Assistantship salary - $12k/year
- $30,000 Scholarship for yearly tuition
- $12,000 Sale of oil stock a while back - saved for this reason
- $x,xxx Summer internship/job
- TOTAL: $50,000+
So, as you can tell from the above numbers, 80% of the amount needed each year is taken care of from the scholarship & T/A. That leaves us with at LEAST (the Mrs. still needs "play" money and all) $8,400 needed to cover the rest of the yearly expenses once the stock money disappears next year. We still have a majority of the "pay it forward" money we received a while back, but we're hoping the summer job and other budget-y things make up for the rest.
So 1 semester down, 7 more to go! Yikes. But as my Auntie always says, "when you're on the right path, things have a way of working out for you." and so far so good! In the meantime, i'm conjuring up some grad school ideas of my own for when she's done... I'm thinking either a PHD in Texas Hold 'em, or a Masters in Fieldgoal Kicking so i can help out my aching Washington Redskins ;) Either way, i'm sexcited!
Labels: education, grad school, money management
posted by J. Money at
12:18 PM
17 Comments:
I am considering grad school myself in a few years. The cost is a bit scary though!!
Isn't it amazing how the Lord always provides? That is just awesome. When she gets through grad school you'll be making lots so it'll all work out!
How awesome! Keep up the good work. I bet yall won't have to take out loans at all.
Dawn - GREAT idea! def. expensive for sure, but you might be able to get scholarships and good loans too! a looooooot of hard work though, that's the down fall ;)
Kaitlyn - You know it girl :) He's def. watching out for us in this dept.! It's incredible how smoothly the whole thing has been going...i really couldn't have imagined it before. HAPPY WEEKEND!
Ms. MoneyChat - thanks! we applied for a cple at first, and then declined for now...it would be amazing if we can get through the entire process without them, but after next year i'm sure we'll need them. we'll see though :)
You guys are rockin' it! That's awesome, congratulations! That extra degree is a little insurance for your future. Good luck with everything and hope it all leads to more and more good things.
Jerry
www.leads4insurance.com
Way to go, Mrs. Budgetsaresexy! We're still trying to figure out where we're going to get the money to cover our bills while I'm doing my internship (preferably not from our credit card snowball payments), but I'm sure it'll work out somehow. God's provided for us thus far - I don't think he's going to stop now. School is definitely not cheap, but if it's where you're supposed to be, the money will be there.
Straight A's the first semester? Looks like we both married smart girls. Great job off setting the huge costs of grad school.
-1MansMoney
Great news for you. So many people are buried under massive school debts, and it looks like you're going to make out like bandits. That means more money for things you really want to pay for like your house, vacations, and retirement. : )
I chose my undergrad degree mainly because I knew it would be easy for me to go to grad school for free. It might have sucked being in grad school and not working but it was such a relief to know that I wasn't racking up more debt along the way. Scholarships and teacher assistant positions are awesome!! And congrats to the Mrs. on pulling in such good grades!
Yeesh, four years of grad school?! What field is she studying, may I ask?
Still, I'm psyched for you that she is mostly covered. While going to one salary will hurt, remember that Tim and I are living on $3,000/month *and* paying down debt. Of course, we're renting, so that saves a lot on expenses from homeowning, etc. In other words: It's do-able, if not always pleasant.
I highly recommend mystery shopping as a means of financing the occasional meal out. That's how Tim and I do it!
Four years of grad school does sound like a lot. You are incredibly lucky in all the funds you are getting to cover the education. Now that's sexy. :) I'm looking into grad school but the costs are scaring me silly. And I'll likely have to take out a ton of loans.
@Jerry - Thank you sir, and happy holidays!
@Pamela @ Frugal Vet Tech - "If it's where you're supposed to be, the money will be there." EXACTLY!!! You know God has our backs.
@1MansMoney - we sure are lucky bastards aren't we ;)
@PennySeeds.com - oh yes, for sure...gonna try taking 1 vacay out of the country per year, so we'll see how it goes! not sure if the frugal side of us will take over before though. haha...
@Budget Save Buy - congrats to you too, that is awesome!
@Abby -oh wow, $3k?! good for you guys :) i've actually always been interested in mystery shopping but never took the time to research it...perhaps i shall venture of your to your site and learn some! oh, and her field is political theory...which is perfect since we're living in DC!
@her every cent counts - i say go for it, esp. if it's your passion. taking out loans suck, but it would soooooo be worth it for ya :) even if we got $0.00 in compensation i'd still be all for it, esp. since you can pay it off over time. keep us updated though!
damn, I was thinking she's lucky she's only got 4 years of grad school for a PhD. I'm looking at 6, most likely (even with a masters!). At least it's not all tuition though. Anyway, super sexy first semester!
That's a lot of money and a lot of time but keep your eyes on the prize! Congratulations on a great start!
You can do grad school a lot cheaper at a public university. I don't have any assistantships or scholarships and it's only about $6400 a year for tuition and fees. That doesn't include books, which vary depending on classes.
Yup, that's definitely true! Always a great option :)
Have been on grad school over 4 years now. It is definitely a financial commitment, but not impossible to survive and make some money. Feel free to check out my blog, I talk about living off of the little $ a grad student has to work with! best of luck!
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Back to Budgetsaresexy.com