expenses--how are y'all affording school?

[mystal]

I just had a chat with one of my professors, and she strongly advised me to look at PhD and in-state programs and emphasized that by going to Yale or Emory or Hopkins, I would be in a whole lot of debt and probably wouldn't have a very high paying job out of grad school. I live in Virginia, and there aren't a whole lot of options for public health. VCU has a school of public health, but it's not accredited, which worries me. So I was wondering, how are you guys paying for grad school? How are you justifying the expense? And does anyone know of schools that provide a lot of funding?

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[prodigious]

there are lot of schools which have reasonable tuition.. Some of them include UAB, UTH, UNT and SUNY albany, TAMU.. Öhio state.. Try for these schools cos most of them have decent ranking specially UTH and UAB.. The best part about studying in texas is that if u get a RA/TA position or on campus job for more then 20 hrs a week, u r eligible for instate tuition which is hardly 7000 usd a year..

 

[CDerhammer]

IUSM (Indiana University School of Medicine) I hear is a great school, though I am working on getting in to there (studying biochemistry at Indiana University) I still hear people from Notre Dame University saying it's a really great school. tuition is $30,000 alone but the the 2009-2010 fiscal year the school gave out roughly $269 million to around 5,000-7,000 students just in grants. That to me sounds great, of course the average G.P.A. for the school is 3.72 but if you want to look more in depth here is a link for you.... <http://medicine.iu.edu/> Good Luck!

Edit: I attached a file with some school statistics

 

[codym]

I'm applying and hoping for the best! There are others that plan to rely on the public service loan forgiveness program, but I'm hesitant to count on that to take card of my debt.

There are only two schools in my state that have CEPH accreditation. One is a state school, but they only offer a general degree. The other, is a private school and they do offer concentration areas, but it's obviously much more expensive. So I'm kinda "up a creek" when it comes to affordable tuition.

I've attached a PDF outlining the loan forgiveness program.

 

[Veggie Monster]

I'm applying and hoping for the best! There are others that plan to rely on the public service loan forgiveness program, but I'm hesitant to count on that to take card of my debt.

There are only two schools in my state that have CEPH accreditation. One is a state school, but they only offer a general degree. The other, is a private school and they do offer concentration areas, but it's obviously much more expensive. So I'm kinda "up a creek" when it comes to affordable tuition.

I've attached a PDF outlining the loan forgiveness program.

do you plan to work for a federal agency ?

 

[codym]

do you plan to work for a federal agency ?

Ideally, yes. However it's not guaranteed, so I don't plan to rely on this program. I think it's a great idea on the government's part, but taking on a great amont of debt is intimidating.

 

[Stories]

I just had a chat with one of my professors, and she strongly advised me to look at PhD and in-state programs and emphasized that by going to Yale or Emory or Hopkins, I would be in a whole lot of debt and probably wouldn't have a very high paying job out of grad school.

Your goals should be weighted against the amount of debt you're willing to accrue. The biggest advantage of the bigger name schools is the networking opportunities. If you plan to branch out beyond the area in which your school is located, the bigger name schools definitely help.

In the grand scheme of themes, Yale/Emery/Hopkins are actually not the most expensive schools you could attend (any of the ones in Boston, New York, or DC, for instance, are all more expensive). Generally, the location of the school dictates price more than the school itself (because the school itself has higher operating costs).

When it comes to jobs vs. debt, consider if a bigger school, which affords you more networking opportunity, may land you a job that's more ideal for your interests versus having a lower loan re-payment but at a less ideal job. I'm not in any way suggesting you can't get your ideal job going to a lesser known school, but it's one aspect to consider.

Overall, though, if you don't have super ambitious career goals, I'd agree with your professor's advice and take a long hard look at the cheaper options (public in-state, usually). It'll save you a lot of grief in the long-run, particularly if you're flexible with what type of job you'd like in the future. And when someone says "won't get paid a lot", I think mostly everyone falls into that category if you're not a savvy business man or corporate lawyer (but maybe that's just me).

A PhD (or any doctorate) should only be pursued if that fulfills your objectives. A PhD isn't for everyone, the time commitment is at least double that of a MPH, and will only qualify you for a very specific subset of jobs (ie. research-based jobs).

 

[codym]

Your goals should be weighted against the amount of debt you're willing to accrue. The biggest advantage of the bigger name schools is the networking opportunities. If you plan to branch out beyond the area in which your school is located, the bigger name schools definitely help.

In the grand scheme of themes, Yale/Emery/Hopkins are actually not the most expensive schools you could attend (any of the ones in Boston, New York, or DC, for instance, are all more expensive). Generally, the location of the school dictates price more than the school itself (because the school itself has higher operating costs).

When it comes to jobs vs. debt, consider if a bigger school, which affords you more networking opportunity, may land you a job that's more ideal for your interests versus having a lower loan re-payment but at a less ideal job. I'm not in any way suggesting you can't get your ideal job going to a lesser known school, but it's one aspect to consider.

Overall, though, if you don't have super ambitious career goals, I'd agree with your professor's advice and take a long hard look at the cheaper options (public in-state, usually). It'll save you a lot of grief in the long-run, particularly if you're flexible with what type of job you'd like in the future. And when someone says "won't get paid a lot", I think mostly everyone falls into that category if you're not a savvy business man or corporate lawyer (but maybe that's just me).

A PhD (or any doctorate) should only be pursued if that fulfills your objectives. A PhD isn't for everyone, the time commitment is at least double that of a MPH, and will only qualify you for a very specific subset of jobs (ie. research-based jobs).

I don't think anyone else could have stated it better.

Thank you for your insight stories!

 

[twizzler86]

In the grand scheme of themes, Yale/Emery/Hopkins are actually not the most expensive schools you could attend (any of the ones in Boston, New York, or DC, for instance, are all more expensive). Generally, the location of the school dictates price more than the school itself (because the school itself has higher operating costs).

This is definitely true. I know for some departments at Hopkins, they will not accept a PhD student that they can't give at least 50% tuition to. So at 20K a year, it costs less that some undergrad programs (and my fiance's law school tuition at a state school).

 

[mystal]

Your goals should be weighted against the amount of debt you're willing to accrue. The biggest advantage of the bigger name schools is the networking opportunities. If you plan to branch out beyond the area in which your school is located, the bigger name schools definitely help.

In the grand scheme of themes, Yale/Emery/Hopkins are actually not the most expensive schools you could attend (any of the ones in Boston, New York, or DC, for instance, are all more expensive). Generally, the location of the school dictates price more than the school itself (because the school itself has higher operating costs).

When it comes to jobs vs. debt, consider if a bigger school, which affords you more networking opportunity, may land you a job that's more ideal for your interests versus having a lower loan re-payment but at a less ideal job. I'm not in any way suggesting you can't get your ideal job going to a lesser known school, but it's one aspect to consider.

Overall, though, if you don't have super ambitious career goals, I'd agree with your professor's advice and take a long hard look at the cheaper options (public in-state, usually). It'll save you a lot of grief in the long-run, particularly if you're flexible with what type of job you'd like in the future. And when someone says "won't get paid a lot", I think mostly everyone falls into that category if you're not a savvy business man or corporate lawyer (but maybe that's just me).

A PhD (or any doctorate) should only be pursued if that fulfills your objectives. A PhD isn't for everyone, the time commitment is at least double that of a MPH, and will only qualify you for a very specific subset of jobs (ie. research-based jobs).

Thanks for the perspective, Stories. Your comments are really helpful!

I don't think I really have super ambitious career goals, but I feel like my interests are pretty specific, and Virginia doesn't have any great in-state programs. Apparently George Mason is working on being accredited and supposedly will be by the time I graduate, so I might apply there, but otherwise, I think I'll stick to my original list of schools.