I'm about to start my grad program in a couple weeks, and I'm trying to decide how many loans to accept for this year and am having a slight nervous breakdown/reconsidering my decision to even go to grad school. I already have about $22,000 in loans from undergrad that my family has been helping me start paying off for the past 2 years.
My grad school program costs $14,000 a year with in-state tuition, and I'll also need money for cost of living in a relatively expensive major city. I was offered about $20,000 in loans for this year, and I REALLY do not want to take that much. I will be working part-time for the first year as most of my classes are offered at night, but I'll still be a full-time student. My family recently determined they can't help me as much as we originally thought, and I have a younger brother starting college in a year. I'm going to school to be a school psychologist (which probably won't ever make a TON of money), so I'm unsure how many loans is reasonable to have. I can apply for the loan forgiveness program where my loans will be forgiven after 10 years working in a public service job (which would include being a school psychologist, in addition to 2 years I already have as a preschool teacher).
How many loans do you think is too much to take out considering my career path and how many loans I have from undergrad? Any other suggestions to pay for school without much/any family help? My program unfortunately barely offers assistantships this year, and I haven't been able to find one. It's hard to get excited for school while being so worried about paying it and being stuck in so much debt.