duhnay

Its been a while since I have been on since I started grad school and have been working I just wanted to tell everyone who responded thank you so much for your advice and it has really helped me! I took out 8,000 this first semester (fall 2012) in order to cover tuition which was 4,000 and to get a computer (1,000) and pay my credit card off (1,000) so that leaves me with 2,000 to pay for books (which are around 400) and have money for my gas and food just in case I do lose my job or an emergency happens (since my schedule will not be flexible due to classes, I am worried about not being able to find another part time job that works around my class schedule if something were to happen) I am still happy with my decision to take out a little more than what I was expecting just because I am planning on paying back immediately any of it that I do not use or save it for next semester and just take out less I am hoping to have at least 1,000 left over that I wont have to use! and next semester I will not be purchasing a computer or paying off my credit card so I will be able to stay within my budget from now on hopefully Thank you again everyone for being so kind and helpful!!!!

Awesome! Thank you for your response! I will look into more opportunities during the first year like you said. Thanks for the advice!

So, first off, I am going to a public university (in-state tuition in Florida) in a Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Program and I received my undergrad degree in Psychology. I never had to take out a student loan before b/c I had a bright futures scholarship and very helpful parents and I worked part time throughout my college career... The only debt I have is 1 credit card and I have 950 dollars I have to pay off on it until I'm debt free. I have filled out the FAFSA and got a Federal Direct Unsubsidized student loan for 20,000 (for 1 year) with an interest rate of 6.8% and I start repayment 6 months after I graduate. I also got a grant from my school for $750 for the year that I was planning to use on a computer or to pay off my credit card maybe? heres the details: -Estimated tuition (from school website) is $9,640.00 (for 1 year) -It also says books/supplies for a year will be about $1,000 -I need a computer really bad which will be around $800-900 I am thinking... -I am planning on working part-time if I can to cover personal expenses and bills -I have parents that help me pay for my rent and car and I cover all other bills myself with my job... -I cant get a GA position until my 2nd semester but am planning on applying next semester for sure so I guess my question is: is taking out about $10-12,000 per year a lot of debt? so that would be like $20-21,000 total for my graduate degree (without taking into account my GA position I am hoping to get, so it may be less).. thanks for you help/opinions... oh and also, I have looked at job outlooks and it seems I will have no problem being set up with an internship that will turn into a job at the end of the 2 years but I will not be making top dollar until I get more experience obviously. But, at least its very likely to get a job in the field of mental health counseling when I graduate...

I am starting to wonder if mine didn't "fall through the cracks" too. I applied back in February and already got accepted into 1 program a looong time ago now. I am still waiting to here from my first choice. They have never once contacted me about being wait listed, or anything for that matter. I tried emailing and calling them but the secretary said she couldnt give me anymore information! I am so confused as to why I have not heard anything yet. I am trying to plan financial aid and work and everything and its hard without hearing from every program. I think I may call again but I am worried I will just get the run around like last time. Any advice?

I love my white chicken chilli recipe. All you need is 1lb ground chicken (normally on sale/pretty cheap) about 3-4 bucks 1 seasoning packet (white chicken chilli) $1.00 1 can of tomatoes w/ green chillis ($1.50) 1 can white beans ($1.00) and it makes a TON, will last for days if you eat it for 1 meal a day....

So, I have a weird situation going on. I have been a Research Assistant for about 2 years now in a cardiovascular psycho-physiology lab. I started out being a part time RA and then moved up to working on a study for a year now with 1 other RA, now, we have RUN THE ENTIRE STUDY (the Principle investigator is never there, literally, never.) She left it all up to us, to run the study, get the papers/materials, enter in all the data, basically everything except writing her dissertation for her. She emailed us the other day because we are done with the study next week (YAY!) and me and the other RA were wondering what she was going to have us do next, or if we would be included in anyway since we did everything except for come up with the hypothesis. She told us, "I wanted to extend the offer to both of you to partake in future data analysis/publication/presentation.I will need to score the data and write my dissertation myself. However, if either of you are interested you can be involved in the write-up for publication or presentation at conferences, you've earned that in my mind" "Also if you can think of any other interesting hypotheses/analyses that you would like to run outside the scope of my dissertation, Im happy to support you in that endeavor as well. I can send you the variables I have measured and you can come up with hypotheses/data analysis ideas that interest you." So what does this mean? How can this effect me in grad school when I am going into counseling (rehab and mental health counseling) or Applied behavior analysis? Doesn't have a lot to do with either of those if its cardiovascular psycho-physiology?

I am in that boat also. I have had an interview from one program but will find out by June 1st from them. My POI, I have heard nothing from, nada. I received 1 email saying my application was complete and received but that is it. I am wondering if I am 'waitlisted' and do not know? Is that possible? I mean the deadline was Feb. 15th so it has not been that long, I guess. But I am concerned I haven't heard anything from them. any advice for those that applied mid Feb? thanks so much!