OooohhhSparkles

So how does anyone SURVIVE grad school without being a literal hobo? I am freaking out. I will have to take loans out for tuition and my research assistantship will be going toward my tuition as well. I REALLY do not want to take out loans just to live! Even if I transfer my current job in retail, I'll only be able to make ~$100/wk if I work 10 hours on top of school and research. Are more loans the only way? Should I have only applied somewhere who would have covered more/given more financial aid? I have been stressing so much because tuition is $24k because I'm out of state. And I already have so much debt from undergrad! Can anyone tell me what they've done to defer costs or survive the living expenses of grad school?

I fear I have made a huge mistake. Since high school it has been my plan to attend graduate school to get my PhD in psychology. I could not get accepted into a Clinical PhD program, so this year I applied to PhD and MA programs. Well I got accepted by one. I think I was so excited I quickly accepted without really taking into consideration what it would mean. I already have $40,000 in student loans from undergrad, which I do not regret. But I will have to take out $40k more for my MA program and that doesn't even include living expenses. I just don't think I am willing to take out $60k more in loans, when I haven't even had experience related to the field. My college has not asked for anything: no deposits, no signatures...nothing. I spoke with my thesis advisor over the phone today just as a quick brainstorm meeting. But that has been it. I have not seen any of the research assistant funding I was promised in my financial aid either, so that doesn't help either (not to mention it's probably only $6-8k per year). I feel like I need time to A: figure out if I really want to rack up this much debt by exploring the field and B: save up more money to try and make this a more realistic situation if I do decide this is what I want to do. So to conclude, here are my big questions: 1. It's almost June and I accepted my offer at the end of March (25th) is it too late to back out? I have never backed out of anything in my life, but I do not see how this will be financially possible for me to survive . 2. How does one back out of an accepted offer? Do I speak with my advisor, the head of the department, or just grad admissions? (Although I would obviously let my advisor know)