<p>Ok, I'm finding it really hard to get some straightforward information on grad school and how it works. For one thing, if you look online for information, mostly everything you get is going to be geared toward doctoral students, and I am working under the assumption that things go slightly to significantly different for just a terminal masters. I'm confused on pretty much everything so I am asking for help.</p>
<p>First thing: how is this financial situation going to work? Here is my deal:</p>
<p>The information on my school's site say that a normal full-time quarter's tuition is about 11k. On top of that they have a couple separate lists of fees that I don't know how many are mandatory, such as this one:</p>
<p>For a single student, $55,749</p>
<pre><code>* Tuition, $33,189
* Fees and student accident & sickness insurance, $3,000
* Books, $1,650
* Commuting to field placement, $1,785
* Room/Board, $13,455
* Personal and miscellaneous, $2,670
</code></pre>
<p>And this one</p>
<p>
</a></p>
<p>I don't know how they are dividing up their fees and and I can't figure out a straightforward total of what I should be looking at. Also, does a quarter system mean that I will be paying the total amount 3 times instead of 2?</p>
<p>Once I figure out how much they will be charging me, I want to have a good idea of how much I should take out in loans. They offered me 20k in a scholarship and 5k in an assistantship for the year, which, worst case scenario (I seriously can't work out a ballpark figure of the yearly cost based on their various figures and vague explanations) could be about 50% of the yearly cost. </p>
<p>So, a couple questions about graduate school fafsa: what is the maximum amount I would be able to take in Stafford and also... when am I supposed to hear back about them? I did my fafsa a month ago and I haven't gotten any award letter or any kind of information at all other than the EFC (which: 00000). I figured it was just because I wasn't actually accepted anywhere yet, but now I am feeling like there is something I need to do to announce my interest in getting some loans.</p>
<p>I am planning on working as much as I can so what I'm really trying to do is just not have to scrape by like I did in undergrad but have enough where I'm not constantly stressing about money. This is why I would probably take out the maximum stafford amount. I know a lot of people would not prefer to do so but the financial stress is too much for me and if I can avoid it, I will.</p>
<p>Also, if I have a surplus, I would like to get some kind of interest bearing savings account... could anyone point me in the right direction on that?</p>
<p>I just am having a hard time wrapping my head around the differences between grad school and undergrad and the fact that my brain is totally melted from my final semester (which I am completely bs'ing my way though)... I'm having a harder time than normal making sense of things. I also can't even find any information on class structure, work load, just general differences from how things are run in grad school. (Again, all the information is centered on doctorates and I keep thinking it's probably not going to be the same thing just for a 2 year masters?) </p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>