<p>Hi y'all!</p>
<p>So I will be going to graduate school in the fall (biology PhD), and am wondering if it's crazy if I will also be working part time (~20 hrs a week) throughout the year. </p>
<p>I found this amazing job that is not only extremely interesting, but will be helping me pay back my student loans.</p>
<p>Has anyone done this before (even if you haven't feel free to comment)? Is it manageable or am I ridiculous to even think about it?</p>
<p>shouldn't your PhD program be providing you with a stipend?</p>
<p>and um, i don't think it's such a hot idea. between classes, trying to impress your rotation PIs enough that they'll take you on as a grad student, and maintaining some semblance of a social life, i don't think you're going to have enough energy to attend to the job.</p>
<p>Many biology programs do not allow you to take an outside job. Check with your program before further consideration.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I didn't think about biology grad programs not letting students take outside jobs. </p>
<p>I am getting a stipend, but I also want to pay off my student loans (i'm planning to get another degree after and would love to have the loans hanging around) and help put my brother through college . </p>
<p>I guess I'll probably have to pinch and save a little.</p>
<p>Is there any way you could have your student loans held off until after graduate school, instead of paying them off right away? With grad school and an outside job, you may become extremely busy, tired, and very overwhelmed.</p>
<p>Student loans are deferred during grad school, so you don't need to pay them back until a few months after you graduate, which will be many years down the road! If you have federal subsidized or Perkins loans, those are interest-free during school, so it would make no sense to pay them now.</p>
<p>As a graduate advisor for a doctoral program in Biological Sciences, I add the following.</p>
<p>The terms of accepting the stipend to attend graduate school are almost always two-fold:
1) the student must attend the program full-time. Doctoral graduate programs in the sciences require significantly more than 40 hours per week. It is quite usual to expect evening and weekend participation in research.
2) the student cannot accept any other employment. Dismissal from the program and payback of the stipend are potential consequences of taking a job during your graduate career.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Student loans are deferred during grad school, so you don't need to pay them back until a few months after you graduate, which will be many years down the road! If you have federal subsidized or Perkins loans, those are interest-free during school, so it would make no sense to pay them now.
[/quote]
I think those reasons mean it makes perfect sense to pay back student loans now -- hey, interest-free loan! :)</p>
<p>I am paying back my deferred undergraduate loans while a biology PhD student, and I hope to be finished paying them back by the time I graduate. I am having no (economic) problem putting a few hundred dollars toward my loans on my stipend every month, and I'd be able to contribute much more if I wanted. Biology stipends are pretty generous.</p>
<p>Once you graduate with a PhD, wouldn't the loan payment then become a much less significant portion of your income once you get a real job? I'd much rather pay off my student loans early after I get a job making $75k+ and putting way more than my monthly payment towards my loans is a much better deal than putting $300 a month towards my loans when I'm making 1/3 as much money.</p>
<p>By the time I'm making $75k+ (knock on wood), I'm hoping to have other priorities for my income, like buying a house and having a baby.</p>
<p>I think it's probably more important to put money in savings and toward retirement when you're in grad school rather than necessarily paying off student loans right off the bat, but I'm not having a problem doing all three, so I choose to do all three.</p>
<p>thanks for the help and clarification!</p>