Preparing yourself financially

[SoftwareKevin]

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I'm curious how everyone is planning on tackling the financial aspect of going back to school. Obviously this is not a cheap road to go down. We all probably have different situations. Some of us are married, some aren't... some have kids, some don't. There are a lot of people out there still paying off student loans from undergrad while others have already paid them off. Some of us have a mortgage.

I've never been one to take big financial risks. My personal situation is that I'm married with a mortgage, but no kids. I'm very lucky to be working in a career that pays a decent salary. My wife also works full time which is nice. My first plan was to stop working completely and start school full time to finish my pre-requisites, but the more I looked at that plan the less it made sense financially. While we've always been savers, we certainly weren't planning on me quitting my job and being out of work for 6-7 years to go back to school... so I took a step back and decided to work full time for 1 more year and take one class a quarter for the next year. Knowing that I'll be leaving my job in a year is allowing us to be aggressive with our saving. I hope this puts us in a situation where we don't have to drastically change our quality of life while I'm in school (ie not eat ramen for every meal).

Is anyone else thinking along similar lines? How are you preparing yourself for so many years of no income?

 

[SleepingJune]

Hi Kevin,

I'll be working half-time this academic year and full-time from next summer through matriculation (only 1 prereq course left after this year). I'm single w/ no kids, so I'll be squirreling away every extra penny I can. I also monitor my credit and am paying down every last bill/credit card other than undergrad std. loans.

Question, though; does anyone know if med schools have something like the undergrad professional judgement process? Where you can appeal a financial aid package based on new information since last year's taxes? As I mentioned, I'll be working FT before (cross my fingers) matriculation, but that income will drop off the deep end once classes would start.

Cheers,
June