planning to go to grad school, If you had a high paying job for few years and want to go full time how did you do it
What is your question?
How to apply? or How to live on a student budget after not having to worry about money for a few years?
If it is about living on a tight budget, try living like a poor grad student on a limited budget for a year or two, and save every cent possible so that when you do get to grad school, you have something in the bank to live on.
Thanks. I spent a lot of money travelling to Europe where most of our family live. I have saved some, but apartments near colleges are very pricey
A lot depends on the details - do you have a spouse and/or kids, what kind of financial support will you have during grad school, what financial obligations have you incurred (mortgage, car loan, etc) during your employment, etc. My income dropped by half when I went to grad school, and money has been an issue the whole time but it has been survivable.
If you are by yourself (no spouse/kids) and didn’t incur any big obligations, then really you are no different than the rest of grad students, save the need to be mindful of your currently more free-spending habits.
Start by adjusting yourself downward gradually so you get used to spending much less. Obviously you still need to pay your current rent and bills, etc. But find out what average rents and other obligations are in your intended grad school city/cities, and subtract that from average graduate stipends and/or how much you plan to borrow for living expenses. The rest is discretionary income - so experiment with only allowing yourself that much discretionary income, putting the rest in the bank, for a few months. The plus side to this is that you also are saving yourself a safety net in case things get rough when you do return.
But I mean…there’s nothing to it but to do it. You cut costs the same way everyone else does - buy the frozen spinach instead of fresh, live with roommates in a semi-sketchy neighborhood (but not too sketchy) that’s a little further from campus, drive a beater and buy unleaded (or take the bus, if applicable) instead of putting premium in the BMW, etc. You pick a few luxuries and spend like a miser on everything else. A big expense me and other grad school friends cut is cable; nobody I know/knew in grad school has/had cable. We all just watched streaming services. (I still don’t have good cable, lol.) You also go through a long stretch in which you don’t buy any decent quality clothing or shoes, so if you need any of that stuff get it now while you’re still working.
I also have some friends who are/were international students and many of them did not travel home at all, or did so very infrequently, while we were in grad school. They simply couldn’t afford it. So you may have to resign yourself to traveling to Europe less.
My little luxury, though, was food. I refused to eat ramen in grad school, other than occasionally. I knew grad students who tracked down every free food event and scavenged for a free slice of pizza or a sandwich, but that was where I drew the line. I saved my pennies, cooked my own meals and ordered out every once in a while. For some people it was housing (they absolutely refused to live with roommates, and paid the outrageous rents for a one-bedroom or studio in the city). For others it was entertainment (they ate TV dinners so they could attend our city’s famous musicals, ballets, and/or concerts once a month). For a few it was travel (they scavenged in the department and did nothing all year so they could take one or two big trips that weren’t to conferences). Everyone had their Thing.
Oh, another way is to get a job or two. I had several part-time jobs throughout the later years of grad school that enabled me to survive in Very Expensive Grad School City.