Do Many Parents Fund Graduate/Professional School?

<p>We have funded the UG education for our children. We see this as something we are fortunate to have been able to provide and do so without regret. The college fund accounts have been depleted. If they choose to attend graduate/professional school, it will be done with their own checkbook, meaning they will have to secure loans. At least one is seriously considering pursuing medicine, so his road will be a long one. </p>

<p>We have made it clear that we will happily help in small, but meaningful ways--perhaps co-signing loans, getting them settled into housing, paying for the occasional ticket to come home, etc. </p>

<p>In your experience, is this the norm? In these hard economic times are the funds available for graduate/professional students?</p>

<p>We promised our kids an undergrad degree with no debt at graduation, they would be on their own for grad school.</p>

<p>We now appear to have three kids who will pursue grad school. We have given each a 4 digit UG graduation check which ought to allow them to settle in well. Thus far we have told them they are on their own and to make decisions accordingly. We did pay for grad school apps, and for med school that is $5-10k including interviews!!</p>

<p>We are helping in little ways, food, surprise checks, little gifts, etc. We will probably also give a substantial check to each at graduation. Once we have an idea the costs each will incur, we may give each a gift or two towards costs, but we want them to make all the cost cutting decisions they can on their own first.</p>

<p>D1 has done a partially funded masters and is doing a PhD in an extremely high cost of living area. She is disgusted with the unfunded masters students there on daddy’s dime, basically partying and having no financial sense of responsibility. DD is developing a case of poor man’s superiority, but in a good way, she is really looking for ways to cut costs, save money, and make wise choices. I think it is smart for her to do that. Otherwise I could gift her some amount and she could still take the same loans and live high on the hog, instead any gift I choose to give will reduce overall indebtedness.</p>

<p>No we won’t be funding graduate school. Small meaningful stuff (like apartment deposit, or help moving to the location, etc.) but not tuition, living expense, etc. We were clear about that from the beginning so shouldn’t be a surprise.</p>

<p>Mine did. It was a tremendous gift. My father also helped my husband go to law school. He said he considered it “an investment for his daughter’s future.” It was a wonderful gesture and paid off well. </p>

<p>If we are in a position to do so, I’d love to help my kids with grad school.</p>

<p>For both our sons, they will graduate from UG debt-free.</p>

<p>Older son is now applying for funded doctoral programs.</p>

<p>Younger son hasn’t mentioned grad school at all (he’s only a junior now) but we’ll see what happens. I don’t think we’ll be in a position to help him.</p>

<p>Both my sister and I have graduate degrees (she’s a JD, I’m an MBA) and we both paid for it on our own.</p>

<p>^Our son will graduate UG debt-free no matter where he goes. Depending upon what his UG tuition is, we will pay for grad school if UG is reasonable. In other words, if he chooses a school that offers him substantial merit aid, we will guarantee we will pay for grad school. If he chooses a school that is $50,000 a year, it is much less likely we will pay for grad school.</p>

<p>Son chose a relatively inexpensive UG and graduated with small Stafford loans anyway.
We believe our son should have some minor financial responsibility for this degree.</p>

<p>He is in a in the first year of a masters program, with generous merit money for tuition.
We do help with rent, he pays for food, gas, incidentals.<br>
He will graduate with about 21K for the two degrees.</p>

<p>And we are done at that point!</p>

<p>Whether you plan to help out or not, many medical schools require financial info from both parents. When I went to med school (decades ago) I had to provide Mom’s and Step-Dad’s financial info despite the fact that I was 24, married and supporting myself and my husband for the past 3 years. Parents did not contribute.</p>

<p>^^ That is my dilemma with law school as well. So for Michigan is the only law school I’ve found that doesn’t require parent info regardless of age and marital status before age 30.</p>

<p>We helped DS as much as we could but we didn’t pay for his tuition and fees at all…just living expenses. We’ll help him pay back loans if/when we can. BUT funding all of grad school…no.</p>

<p>We told our kids we would fund the four year college plan. Anything beyond that for either undergrad or grad would be on their dime.</p>

<p>DS#1 graduated from college debt-free, and he understood that he would have to find a funded Ph.D. program, which he did. :slight_smile: We do pay for him to fly home, fearing that we might not see him otherwise ;), and we have helped him furnish his apt. He is getting to be more and more truly self-sufficient. :smiley: This is good since we have two more starting college in the fall of '10.</p>

<p>These days it does not make sense to go to graduate school (MA/MS or PhD) unless you’re fully funded or in a field like engineering. The job market is simply too awful.</p>

<p>We are currently planning on funding grad school for our son if he wants or needs it. He chose an inexpensive school for undergrad and has a strong, demonstrated work ethic. Our daughter will be starting undergrad (fulltime) next year. We already have the funding in place and the massive returns in the stock market this year certainly didn’t hurt.</p>

<p>Edit: he’s also graduating in 3.5 years and will be taking several graduate courses in his undergraduate program.</p>

<p>IB, it’s not that bad. People just with UG degrees have it harder in fact than those with MA’s because the MA’s are taking a lot of the jobs the UG’s used to take. Anyway, a graduate degree is definitely still worth it, provided you do it at the right time, knowing how it will benefit you. </p>

<p>I think some parents sometimes pay or help pay for grad school for their kids, but the ones I know who are getting help all went straight from undergrad to grad school with no time in between to earn or save money. I guess they’re lucky to get parental help, but I don’t think most kids should go straight to graduate school without getting a few years of experience under their belts, unless they’re going to a pre-professional school, experience at work goes a long way towards making grad school go a long way.</p>

<p>D is going to have to take out loans for graduate school if we have depleted the money we have saved for her to fund her undergraduate degree. Currently we are trying to pay for that through my current salary and (thankfully) gifting from her grandmother. So with luck there may be some funds available. We would try to help her out in either case, but I want her to have a sense of responsiblity and a feeling that life is not a free ride. After she completes her studies and if we are in a financial positition to help her, I would love to put some money towards a house or buying an apartment.</p>

<p>We are lucky. S1 has been invited to attend a grad program at a top private that is fully funded including a stipend. He may not do it since he has a great job opportunity that would provide valuable experience before grad school, which we are encouraging. We will help out to get him settled, but do not anticipate anything additional other than a few trips home.</p>

<p>We are paying for 2 private UG educations right now, and will pay for our 3rd child’s when he reaches college age. We told them we will not pay for graduate school. (Altho’ in my heart I know that if I find extra $$ lying around when it is time for them to go - haha - I will probably help pay).</p>

<p>D is contemplating PhD programs and knows she has to secure her own funding. We borrowed enough to pay for a luxury SUV because we were committed to her choice of school. Fortunately, her track record there should increase the odds of decent funding. As it is, it helped her get her first job with an eerily minimal amount of fuss and angst.</p>

<p>We’re happy. D appears to be happy. “No grad $$$” is working for us.</p>

<p>

[quote]
We promised our kids an undergrad degree with no debt at graduation, they would be on their own for grad school.<a href=“With%20a%20nod%20to%20all%20the%20other%20posters%20who%20said%20the%20same%20thing.”>/quote</a> We’re in this category, too. D is applying to MPH programs.</p>

<p>Back in the day when I went back to school for an MBA after working for almost 6 years, it was completely on my dime. My twin brothers both went on the grad school (Law & MBA) directly out of UG. Although they took out loans, my parents made up the difference. When I was applying they told me they couldn’t help me out since they were building a new house. So, H & I at least intend to treat D & S equally – they’re both on their own! :)</p>

<p>As a postscript, I do remember my father having to provide financial info when I applied – even though I had been out of the house and entirely self-sufficient for all that time. (I guess it didn’t count for much since I didn’t get any financial help from him.)</p>

<p>My son knows anything past 4 years of undergrad is on him. He is NOT getting a debt free undergrad degree. I am putting out over 60K over 4 years, he will have nearly 30K in stafford and perkins loans and the bulk of his undergrad degree is actually coming from scholarship money from the school.</p>

<p>Now had he not attended a school that will end up costing over 200K for an undergrad degree, I might have not had to spend my life savings on my EFC and would have been in a better position to help with any grad school. But it was my son’s choice to go to NYU and take on the debt and I have no guilt about saying anything more is on him</p>