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How do you pay for school?

randomuser
edited December 2007 in General
First few semesters I used my savings, then I realized if I kept spending all my savings Id be living like pay cheque to pay cheque so I
started taking out student loans. 13k in the hole now :omg:

Comments

  • DaNoobie
    edited December 2007
    parents :)
  • NukeChem
    edited December 2007
    Student loans/bursaries for undergrad.

    Grad school, bursaries until they changed the policy. Now it comes off my stipend income. Grr.
  • Kevin M.Kevin M.
    edited December 2007
    Good question...I vary from semester to semester. When I can handle it, I take a student loan but other times my parents have paid. One time I was working full time and taking part time classes so I ended up paying for it all by myself (pretty proud of myself).

    My constant goal is to figure out someway to find a balance between work and school so that I can do both for an extended period of time without having to rely on anyone else (including the government). If anyone has any ideas let me know :P
  • meeshmeesh
    edited December 2007
    Student loans/bursaries. i had some savings before starting university but that account emptied pretty quickly haha.

    i'm a TA next semester, so that'll help a bit... but still, my student loan debt is going to be scary so i don't want to think about it.
  • cassie1013
    edited December 2007
    My parents pay...but I'm grateful that I have that.
  • JayDub
    edited December 2007
    Your tax dollars.
  • Kevin M.Kevin M.
    edited December 2007
    I like how you say that with such pride.
  • imelting
    edited December 2007
    student loans/work
  • siuying
    edited December 2007
    ^ditto
  • Broken Lizard
    edited December 2007
    loans
    then work for spending money

    14k in loans, woo! lol
  • randomuser
    edited December 2007
    How do stipends work in regards to grad students
  • NukeChem
    edited December 2007
    Well, in the sciences you're pretty much required to have a supervisor willing to take you on (in my case, it was no issue because I fixed it with the nuclear science prof well in advance, so applying was a formality. I just had to find out if they'd let me do a qualifying semester - which I ended up having to do because the chem department's entry GPA cutoff is 3.00 and I had a 2.89 or something close).

    At that point you're guaranteed something like $5,500 a semester if doing your Master's and $6,000 a semester for a Ph. D. So if you TA, you get around $5,100 a semester and then get 'topped-up' by your supervisor. If not, then your supervisor's grant pays for you. Or you can get fellowships through NSERC or the Chemistry department (either way, it's free money). But regardless of what mix of income you have you're pretty much guaranteed the minimum level of support if you meet academic and thesis requirements. So in my case the supervisory committee said I was all right in my thesis project progress and they had minor concerns.

    I dunno how it works in the arts - I do know people who have had to take student loans because they couldn't get a TAship or fellowship and their supervisor did not have the grant money to pay for a grad student.
  • andysh
    edited December 2007
    parents - $3000 per semester excluding textbooks.

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