<p>Sakky, the position of grad students is so different from that of undergrads that that isn't really an argument.</p>
<p>It has come to be a norm in our society that, for the most part, parents who can afford to pay finance their children's college education. Hence, schools don't base financial aid on the paltry salary you earned working in a summer camp, but on your parents income. Yet, while some parents would be willing to pay for grad school, I think that by the end of college most students either are expected to be or want to be moving towards financial independence. Most people get jobs at 22. If you are going to justify committing to going to school for 5-7 more years, then you better have the means to do so. Personally, I would have to, at the very least, take time off and get a job for several years before graduate school if I didn't want to be a burden on my parents until I'm close to 30. As much as I want to be a professor, I don't know if I would ever wind up coming back if I had to wait a few years even to start graduate school.</p>