new with a question...

[idgie]

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I'm in the process of looking at various PsyD programs, as well as a few PhD programs, as I want to continue my education and training to obtain a doctorate degree in clinical psychology. When I completed my master's program I took out loans and got whatever it was that I needed, so I never had to worry about cost of attendance. I've taken out loans for my bachelor and master programs and have paid them all off, save for about $4k worth.

My question: what is "cost of attendance" and how is it determined? I'm assuming that it means tuition and fees, but what is it beyond that? I can't imagine that schools will only cover tuition/fees, yet allow nothing for living expenses. Also, do most programs have student housing or are you expected to secure your own housing?

Another question: I'm engaged and likely will end up getting married some time in the next 2 years. My fiance makes around $120k/year and is into real estate (though has a job in engineering), which he fixes up and rents out. He does, however, carry about $90k in credit card debt due to fixing these rental properties. He never misses payments or anything like that, though he lives paycheck to paycheck for the most part. Will this affect my ability to obtain student loans for graduate school?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

[TMP-SMX]

Cost of attendance will include living expenses, books, housing, transportation, personal money, and things along those lines. It is just a maximum amount of financial aid you can receive. Most financial aid offices will have their CoA on their website.

I assume that a majority of the larger universities have on-campus housing available, but some smaller schools that are single campus don't. In a vast majority of cases you will have the choice of where you want to live.

That 90k is frightening. Is he making any money on the real estate or even the engineering considering the interest rates? Does he do this real estate for fun or is he trying to make money. Either way that doesn't seem like the path to go on if he bought these properties while they were high and right now they have probably lost value.

As for your ability for student loans, until you get married his income has zero bearing on your ability to receive federal loans. You will most likely get the full amount of stafford loans you are eligible for up to your cost of attendance. In fact, your parents may have more bearing on your eligibility for need-based or campus-based aid or scholarships regardless of your age/graduate school level.

 

[idgie]

I'm 42 years old, so I can't imagine that my parents would have anything to do with my financial aid stuff...unless there's something that I don't know. They never asked me for that kind of info in my bachelor/master's programs for financial aid purposes.

I've looked on various websites and I can't find any info on cost of attendance. Do you know what the average amount is? I'm guessing around 20k, not including tuition/fees. I find all kinds of info on tuition/fees and stipends, but nothing regarding cost of attendance.

He does engineering for a living but plays the real estate market. He's bought several houses and fixes them up to rent them out, some of which make money and others don't because he ends up with some people who don't pay their rent for months at a time. He's obviously responsible for the mortgages but when people don't pay their rent, the mortgages still have to be paid so he's forced to take it out of his own pocket. He is losing money on 2 properties right now, but only because he's ended up with 2 people who refuse to pay their rent. He's going through the court process of having them evicted, but they're fighting it and they are funded through section 8, which means they get their lawyers for free while my boyfriend has to pay for his attorney out of his own pocket....and that's a huge expense. The section 8 people are just going through the court process to drag out the time line so that they have extra time to find somewhere else to live. And he's out all that money because they are not paying him. It's crazy. As far as the credit card debt, it is huge. I'm not against him being in the real estate market, but he didn't make some very wise decisions when it came to which properties to buy. I told him to buy properties around big universities and he'd be much better off as students always need housing, to which he agrees and wants to do, but he needs to offload the 2 properties he has now that are not making him any money. Such is life.

 

[TMP-SMX]

There's a difference between the normal FAFSA for most students and the extra that some schools require if you try to get some need-based/merit-based aid from the school such as scholarships. In your case you are unlikely to be eligible anyway, but some schools require parental information regardless of your age or independent status. Again, irrelevant for you.

Sorry about your situation. Hope it works out. I honestly don't know that much about the psychology programs. Someone else may know better than me.