<p>I am recently married and my spouse and I are both looking at graduate school. We're concerned about financial aid prospects, because of our lopsided financial resources.</p>
<p>I don't need financial aid for school and do not intend to apply for it for myself. I lost my father a few years ago and inherited enough from him in trust that I should be provided for through school and probably a few years as I get my bearings in the working world.</p>
<p>My spouse is supported by an entry level salary and has a monthly car payment to keep up for the next few years. Independently, he would need substantial assistance to cover his costs for graduate school. He intends to apply for financial aid and is looking into merit aid possibilities.</p>
<p>I've noticed that on several of his financial aid forms so far, the schools are asking for reports on my income and assets in addition to his. Does my spouse have to list my assets and report my income? Will my assets have an impact on the kind of aid he can receive? If my finances are in a trust that designates its principal for my educational and medical expenses only...are we going to have a problem? And if so, will he be able to successfully apply for a loan instead or are we going to have to find another way to foot the bill?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Yes your spouse would have to include your assets, no matter what the stipulation is. Your assets are your spouse’s assets in the eyes of aid providers</p>
<p>That said, you may not understand how grad aid works. RARELY is 'need based" aid given anyway. Usually only merit aid is given, so need isn’t relevant. So, usually there are four ways to finance grad school…
- pay for it yourself
- have an employer pay for it
- borrow the money
- have high stats and the university provides tuition waiver and a stipend that pays all costs.</p>
<p>I agree, it is extremely rare to get need based grad school aid. The aid (stipend, tuition waiver) strongly depend on the field he is pursuing his grad studies.
In science/math/engineering top programs offer free ride + stipend for living expenses. In law/business/med he might get (very small) aid, with excellent undergrad record. In education he might get some help from his current employer.</p>
<p>In any case, he can get loan. Contrary to the undergrad loans, grad loans do not have limit. BUT have higher intrest rate.</p>
<p>By “graduate school”, do you mean PhD program, or a professional school program like MD, JD, MBA, etc.?</p>
<p>PhD programs are typically funded with a tuition waiver and a living expense stipend. Professional school programs are much less likely to offer financial aid or scholarships of any kind.</p>
<p>For law/med schools that give need based aid (most do not), if you are under 27 (at some schools if you are under 30), the student would have to provide income/assets of their parents andtheir spouse. At schools that offer merit, it will be based on GPA/LSAT/MCAT or student who have committed to doing X number of years in public service (if you don’t keep the public service commitment, you must repay the monies).</p>
<p>In the event of grad school, if you are going for a masters program, there is very little monies in terms of need based aid. Either you pay (as a credit worthy grad student, you could borrow the entire cost of attendance as a GradPlus loan), your employer pays (if the employer offers a tuition remission program that includes grad school).</p>
<p>As ucbalumnus states, any PhD program worth attending will come with funding.</p>