Grad School Loans as They Pertain to Housing

[xypathos]

While I wait to hear back from Yale, I'm currently debating between Union and Vanderbilt to eliminate one. Since Vandy doesn't have on campus housing, I'm curious as to how they (or similar schools) handle housing and food budgets.

 

Here's how it was explained to me by a current graduate student at my school:

 

Grants, scholarships, etc are deducted from the cost of attendance. The remaining amount is then taken out in loans. The school budgets say $15k for living expenses over the year, the school cut him two checks for each semester of roughly 7,500 each.

 

Is this more or less accurate?

 

I'm coming from the perspective of a residential college. While Union has on-campus housing, Vandy does not so I'm trying to imagine how that process works. I have money saved up for a couple months of rent but I'd like to devote myself to my studies as fully as possible and ideally work no more than 15-20 hrs/week.