<p>D used a combination of:</p>
<p>the Bank of Mom, credit cards, earnings/savings from jobs, $$ gifts from relatives.</p>
<p>WOWMom, My DD also spent time in Europe before beginning med school. She was lucky in that she worked for the entire year prior and had her last paycheck arrive in the mail once she got home from Europe!</p>
<p>
Well. Dear old dad paid half of the Europe/Nashville/Kentucky lakehouse trip. A full month of “beer and circuses”. She had budgeted $XXXX. I mean “to the penny”. It was a very convincing scam. She has a potential fall-back career as the next Bernie Madoff. </p>
<p>She had 1/2 from lab earnings, awards, babysitting, housesitting. (She is very industrious but leaks cash like water through a sieve.) Dad offered the other 1/2 as her graduation present (while suggesting they just find a cheap beach somewhere on the Mayan Riviera and save some money for moving). The trip ending up costing at least 150% of $XXXX . Gee. Imagine that. 
</p>
<p>Dad took it in the shorts. I couldn’t leave her stranded in Europe and I couldn’t get blood out of a turnip. </p>
<p>We split the application costs/trips 50/50 but it always seemed like my 50% cost more than her 50%, and heck…I finally realized that a good portion of her 50% came from me to begin with. 
I never was that good at math. </p>
<p>(Don’t get me wrong, I’m just having a little fun. I don’t begrudge a sou…she saved me a ton on UG. But she’s making up for it now. ;))</p>