Are we missing any schools that we should be lookig at?

[MWolf]

@intparent

If her grad school is the type she probably will have to pay for (law, MBA, masters program without PhD), then this makes sense. If she is going into a field where a PhD is really optimal, then she will get paid to go to grad school and complete her PhD (they actually waive the tuition during the years when they are taking classes for the masters portion of the PhD program, and pay a stipend for TAing and eventually researching). So any PhD program worth completing should fund her experience and she shouldn’t need additional loans if that is her path.

This is worth repeating.

First rule of grad school: NEVER start a non-professional graduate degree unless you have been ensured 100% financial support. If you need to take a loan to do your PhD, MA, MS, or MFA, (I differ from @intparent on this) than you should not do it. Find a school that will pay full tuition and provide guaranteed paid assistantships or a stipend for the length of the degree (at least 2 years for a master’s or 5 years for a PhD), otherwise, Just Say No.