Married man... how to live during Optometry school?

[eyeamhere123]

Whenever I go to optometry school, I will be faced with the challenge of finding a home, getting a job, moving, etc. All of this including the stress of admission, financial aid, and overall focus on study. This is a challenge I'm accepting, and I am prepared to create a high-quality, positive balance to my work and studying.
My only concern is whether or not I will be able to carry, say, a 5pm -11pm job. My wife and I both work to support an apartment, just as we'd expect to do while I was studying optometry. I'm unsure if my 5-11 job would conflict with the scheduling of classes in school. I would say my real question is whether or not I would be able to schedule my classes to where I am always out at three or four.
This is something I've been losing hair over for the past couple weeks. If anyone has any advice or insight, please let me know. 🙂

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[evorage]

Where are you going to school?
You will not be able to hold a job from 5-11pm, you will be completely burned out and will suffer in school. Classes are set by the school and run from 8-5 most days. You will need the time after class to study.
Your student loan package should cover your cost of living. It’s not great to take out more than tuition but if it keeps you from failing out it’s worth it.

 

[kilegna]

My best advise is for you to contact the school you plan to attend and see how their schedule is formatted. From what I know, the school picks the classes for you, its not like undergrad where you are able to pick your classes and times, so they technically control your schedule. Also, take into consideration the time you would need to put into classes aside from classroom time. You will need to study and put in time to pass the rigorous classes given during optometry school.
Like yourself I am married and also worked and studied during undergrad. During optometry school you pretty much have to live off your student loan and if additional income is required get a living expenses loan. I know you can occasionally work from time to time whenever you have time but I wouldn't count on that. Your spouse will still need to work to minimize the amount of debt.
Remember there are schools that have an extended program, so instead of 4 years it will be 5 years of optometry school but the schedule is lighter and you might have some room to fit in a part-time job but if you plan to attend to a traditional program there is not much room for work. Hope this helps!

 

[eyeamhere123]

Where are you going to school?
You will not be able to hold a job from 5-11pm, you will be completely burned out and will suffer in school. Classes are set by the school and run from 8-5 most days. You will need the time after class to study.
Your student loan package should cover your cost of living. It’s not great to take out more than tuition but if it keeps you from failing out it’s worth it.

I'm aiming for uhco. And okay, that was my backup question. Will student loans cover the cost of living? And should I have loans cover all four years?
Would it be safe to perhaps have a weekend job?

 

[eyeamhere123]

Where are you going to school?
You will not be able to hold a job from 5-11pm, you will be completely burned out and will suffer in school. Classes are set by the school and run from 8-5 most days. You will need the time after class to study.
Your student loan package should cover your cost of living. It’s not great to take out more than tuition but if it keeps you from failing out it’s worth it.

My best advise is for you to contact the school you plan to attend and see how their schedule is formatted. From what I know, the school picks the classes for you, its not like undergrad where you are able to pick your classes and times, so they technically control your schedule. Also, take into consideration the time you would need to put into classes aside from classroom time. You will need to study and put in time to pass the rigorous classes given during optometry school.
Like yourself I am married and also worked and studied during undergrad. During optometry school you pretty much have to live off your student loan and if additional income is required get a living expenses loan. I know you can occasionally work from time to time whenever you have time but I wouldn't count on that. Your spouse will still need to work to minimize the amount of debt.
Remember there are schools that have an extended program, so instead of 4 years it will be 5 years of optometry school but the schedule is lighter and you might have some room to fit in a part-time job but if you plan to attend to a traditional program there is not much room for work. Hope this helps!

Thank you for the response! Yeah, okay, that sounds much better!

 

[kilegna]

I'm aiming for uhco. And okay, that was my backup question. Will student loans cover the cost of living? And should I have loans cover all four years?
Would it be safe to perhaps have a weekend job?

Contact UHCO and see how their schedule works. Schools normally have classes set up M-F 8am-5pm and after you need to study, do projects, prepare for exams etc.. you don't want to perform poorly just to keep a job.
The schools gives you a financial aid award a.k.a a loan and they calculate living expenses..but its standard not everybody has the same budget so if you need more $ that what was "calculated" for you, you'll have to get an additional loan (a grad plus loan) to cover the additional expenses. The loans mostly work year to year so just take it one step at a time. The schools do a really good job at explaining this since we aren't the first students married.
In regards to the weekend job, I would first wait and see how you handle classes and exams etc and then you can figure out if the right thing for you is a weekend job or no job at all.. just wait and see how things flow.

 

[eyeamhere123]

Contact UHCO and see how their schedule works. Schools normally have classes set up M-F 8am-5pm and after you need to study, do projects, prepare for exams etc.. you don't want to perform poorly just to keep a job.
The schools gives you a financial aid award a.k.a a loan and they calculate living expenses..but its standard not everybody has the same budget so if you need more $ that what was "calculated" for you, you'll have to get an additional loan (a grad plus loan) to cover the additional expenses. The loans mostly work year to year so just take it one step at a time. The schools do a really good job at explaining this since we aren't the first students married.
In regards to the weekend job, I would first wait and see how you handle classes and exams etc and then you can figure out if the right thing for you is a weekend job or no job at all.. just wait and see how things flow.

Okay! Thank you so much!

 

[Toofar]

UHCO is ~43k a year tuition for out-of-state students and ~23k for in-state students. The maximum federal loan you can get is $40,500, so take that into account as well.

 

[AcademicEyes]

I pretty much agree with everyone else, but I also want to add that you can possibly work part-time during your first or second years of school. It's not easy, but it's possible. I personally worked 8-20 hours a week from summer after first year to spring of second year, averaging 10 a week. I also remained active in school, and lived with my now-fiancé. It was pretty tiring since I would often work full Saturdays and only have Sunday completely off most weeks, but with time management and organization and a few sacrifices I kept my GPA up.
Once third year started I had to quit because the class/clinic schedule was more than a full-time job - 32-44 hours a week depending on the semester/session for reference.

Additionally, you can apply to scholarships to help out. I attend a school on the west coast so I can't speak to UCHO, but I imagine the schedules are similar. You can try it out and see what you can handle, but keep in mind you will be losing out on social life. Regardless, many loans are involved in attending optometry school.

Oh - I also want to add that many of my classmates worked at on-campus libraries and were able to handle more hours than me, possibly because they had more downtime and less travel time to get there.