Right now, I am in my second year of my bachelor degree and now I am beginning to worry about graduate school. I want to be an occupational therapist and I know that after my degree I will get no aid. I am completely financially independent and cannot return to my mom as it is an unfit situation for me to live. Her alcohol problem is why I am on my own right now. There is no other family that will allow me to live with them for free. So right now, I work part-time (30 hours a week) to cover my living expenses. I added my expenses up and living on the bare minimal, I pay out 6264 a year. Graduate school is going to be so much harder than what I am doing now. I have looked into the programs and I do not think I will be able to work. The program’s recommends that you do not work and I do not think I will have the time to work since fieldwork and classes can last every day from early morning to around seven at night. I have looked at how much it would cost in tuition on the two schools that I was thinking to apply to in two years. The public school will cost 30,000 (5000 a semester) for the three years. The private school will cost 78,000 (13,000 a semester) for the three years. So if I went to the public it would be 48,792 in loans and if I went to the private school it would be 96,792. This honestly scares me to death. I know if I become a therapist I would make enough to pay it… but still. Could anybody that has been through this give me advice? I am worrying so much, I was thinking about changing my major. I really don’t want to do that though.
You might investigate what kinds of work you can get with your BS degree. Working for a while may be a better choice than going right to a graduate program.
Most occupational therapists do finance their entire degree with loan debt, unless their families pay for them. There are very few non-repayable aid options for graduate school. One thing you might want to consider is the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP), but I’m not sure they cover occupational therapists.
When you are calculating the cost of attendance/loans, don’t forget to include your living expenses - you will need to borrow for those, too, if you can’t work. So a school where the tuition is $26,000 a year will be $78,000 PLUS the cost of living expenses (which is usually like $20-25K a year if you live frugally).
Why are you calculating 3 years, though? As far as I know, most OT programs are entry-level master’s degrees that take two years. There are only a few doctoral-level OT programs right now, and you don’t need an OTD to practice as an OT.