Aside from balancing your personal, work, and study life, another factor why professionals are not too enthusiastic in getting a postgraduate degree is that it can be pretty expensive. If you already have a family, it is totally understandable that you need to save as much money as you can in order to provide a decent lifestyle to your partner and children.
However, you do not really have to give up on your dream of entering graduate school. Whether you are taking up an executive MBA program, or you are getting a master’s in science or fine arts degree, you can find a lot of ways on saving up for school without sacrificing your personal needs. To help you out, check the list of useful tips on getting a good education in a cost-efficient manner.
- Search for Student Funds
Instead of borrowing money from bank, you can opt to find scholarships or grants for funding your education instead. In addition, there are also charitable institutions that can help with your tuition or other fees. However, these programs may require that you maintain a certain grade so that they can continue funding your education. This means that you really need to work harder than ever.
- Choosing your Accommodation
Aside from the tuition and books, another high, but a totally important expense, is your accommodation. To save up, veer away from on-campus residences because they are more expensive. You best option for maximum savings is an apartment outside of the university. You can also share your place with other students to lower your rent.
- Discuss work options with the school
One of the problems of professionals who plan on going to graduate school is that studying can bar them from their work. However, what most people do not know is that they can talk to the school and work out the schedule together. As professionals, they can also understand the plight of their students. That is the reason why some universities also offer them on campus jobs to help with their funds. An example of this one is being a research assistant. Not only can you can earn a salary, but you can also get some discounts on your tuition.
- Purchase a printer
Going back to school means writing a lot of research papers again. Printing your papers on campus can be ridiculously expensive. And with so many students that they need to accommodate, you might miss your deadline while lining up at the queue. Having your own printer means that you can avoid all these stressful situations.
What tips do you have?
I say consider ROI before committing to the post grad degree. I know someone who’s considering taking out over 20k per year to get an MFA in acting. I love theater, but that’s a big no no. If you have to take out a lot in loans, you HAVE to consider ROI of your degree.