froggerz9

That's a pretty high price to pay for a Masters. A portion of that will be (I think!) beyond the normal Stafford Loans which I think are capped at around $16500 a year for graduate students, so you're getting into risky risky territory as far as repayment goes.

I say this as someone with a little more life experience than someone right out of undergrad. I have seen friends lives literally derailed by massive student loans. Loans are not something to be taken light heatedly or absentmindedly. Wanting to do something badly for two years is not enough of a reason to saddle yourself with insurmountable debt for 20 or 30 years. Even law school has been a risky bet in the last few years as far as loan repayment in light of the current job market. I would think really really hard about my future before I took out anything more than 20k for a masters.

If you can pay the debt off within less than 10 years I say go for it. I'm just thinking about the interest on any loans you'll have to take out. The interest would be killer.

I'm in the 'no' camp. That is an insane amount of money to spend. That's just my opinion. What are salaries like for Latin American Studies? Maybe wait another year and apply to schools in cheaper areas of the country where you know you'll get some funding. That's my two cents.

Hmm...Good luck. Sorry.

I paid for my MA by getting a job at the school. Most schools will waive your tuition if you have a staff job that entails at least 20 hours a week of work. Plus, the pay is usually way better than a TA salary. I got my master's in five semesters instead of four, made $40k with excellent health insurance as an administrative assistant, and the total cost to me out of pocket for fees, books, supplies, etc was about $900 total for the entire degree. I would strongly suggest you look into that route. It's tough, but it's so worth it.

i got accepted at GW last week, they said they would notify about funding by the end of this coming week...still waiting to hear on Gtown's funding situation. Fingers crossed.

I find the best way to think about it is in terms of what your monthly payments will be when you get out of school. on the low end, if you come out of school with a debt balance of $80K and have a 20 year payback schedule, you will owe nearly $650.00 each and every month. and that is only paying the minimum amounts. If you think that you can handle $650 in minimum debt payments each month on top of all other living expenses (and hopefully some savings!!) then go for it, but that will require a very substantial, secure salary. If you want to continue going to school after the MA, then would you really want to tack more debt onto that? if you want to go into a lower-paying job, then could you realistically afford it? those are the questions to consider. it's easy to fall into the "i really want this degree and the i'll deal with the debt when the time comes." but in the end, once those monthly bills start rolling in, you may really regret it. my advice would be to either find a lower cost school, or go part-time while working full-time, get a job that provides tuition benefits, or put off school until you have some other sources of funding lined up. there are my two cents! Good Luck!!

I just finished a double MA in Spanish and French with a GRE score of: 490v 580q 6.0aw. When I originally applied, I applied to two MAs (got into both, ended up going to the school that gave me full funding and TAship), and one PhD (ivy league), but was rejected. I honestly think that I was rejected at the PhD school not only for GRE but for a VERY unfocused SoP (it was literally all over the place, I just reread it..eek) as well as a total lack of teaching experience. Now, as I wait to hear back from PhD programs in Spanish for Fall 2011 admissions, I think that my GRE is MUCH less important (I didn't retake it!) as I have improved everything else 10 fold (I have several semesters of teaching experience now, international exposure as a travel assistant on undergrad study abroad programs, was awarded for a paper and also received a summer travel grant to Paris, much mroe focused research interests, et.c). This theory of mine was just proven today as I got into the number 1 ranked Spanish program in the country (2010 nrc rankings) at a 'public ivy league' school. I haven't heard back from the other 3 schools I applied to yet, but my point is that all isn't lost if you have a lower than avg. GRE (my verbal is terrible for a PhD in humanities, although there's quite a disparity considering I got a 6.0 on aw..). Some will try to tell you that all is lost if you have a GRE score like yours or mine, but I really think you're fine if the rest of your application package looks solid - particularly for MA programs where I think GRE might be less important (NYU in Madrid was one of the schools I got into the first time around, by the way So I did go through 2.5 years of a double MA, but clearly it was what my PhD applications needed because this time around I feel a lot more confident overall.