I’m currently serving as an officer in the military; I got here through the ROTC program. They – that is, you, if you’re a US taxpayer – paid my way through college, and hooked me up with two incredibly fun and very nicely paid jobs. I have saved carefully during my five years of service (with the exception of spending a completely-justified large amount on my fiancée’s ring), and intend to separate from the service after the end of my sixth year. One of the things I really appreciate about this was that I was able to pay all of my own college costs (indirectly), emerge from college debt-free (if you don’t count my service commitment), and support myself without having to ask my parents for money. I made these choices and don’t regret them. Now I’m up a creek, however, because although I have saved up–very nicely!–I do not have anything near what some schools are asking for even a year of grad school.
I want (and to have a fulfilling career, probably need) to go to graduate school; I’d like to go full-time. Probably law school, but possibly to pursue an advanced degree in engineering; I haven’t decided yet. I do not want to compromise on the quality of the school I attend – I want to attend the best school that will take me and succeed there based on my merits. Holding down a full-time job concurrent with this pursuit seems foolish to me if I can avoid it.
What are my options for paying for grad school? I’d rather not go into debt (but then again, interest rates are very good right now). I also need to eat, and if there’s a way I can work part-time in my chosen career field while I am enrolled, that would be ideal. Am I dreaming, or has some clever capitalist already created a niche for me?
Apologies in advance if I sound deeply clueless; having most of my needs provided by the government has made me somewhat soft, I fear.
Depending on what the program you apply to has, there may be graduate assistantships available that provide a tuition waiver and a stipend.
Check out the program - many have a page about departmental financial assistance on their web site. Those, along with a small amount in loans can cover your living expenses well. But again, it depends upon the program you go into and the school.
The main thing to do is to talk to the schools you wind up applying to. They often offer teaching or graduate assistantships, tuition wavers, scholarships, etc. I was both a g.a for a year, which paid tuition and a small stipend, and then a t.a. which paid the tuition plus double the g.a. stipend. I emerged from school with nothing in savings, but with no debt, either.
Generally, if you’re in engineering or one of the real sciences, you can expect to get some sort of assistantship/stipend arrangement. I’ve never met anybody in engineering or a science who actually paid for graduate school. Mind you, I’ve only had experience with people from the major research universities.
Unfortunately, if you apply to a professional school, the ability of getting some type of GA or TA will be slim to none, at least not at the professional school. You might be able to work on TA-ing at the undergraduate level, but in my experience, they barely pay you enough to live and you probably won’t have enough time to study (classes, office hours, tutoring sessions, etc.) Taking on financial aid shouldn’t be too burdensome. I’m not sure what you want to do after grad school, but being a patent attorney does bring down some nice coin (then again, you’re looking at incredibly high billing requirements and not a whole lot of QOL). If you had a house, you might be able to get some creative financing with home equity loan, but that’s putting the cart before the horse. Talk to the financial aid office, they should be a really good resource.
I have a PhD in engineering from MIT and a JD from Harvard, so I’ve experienced both the flavors of grad school that you’re considering.
In engineering, the vast majority of grad students are supported by some combination of research assistantships and teaching assistantships - paying your own tuition is very rare. You should also apply for fellowships if you go this route. Not only do they pay your tuition, they make you more attractive to potential advisors, since they don’t have to come up with money for your assistantship out of their research budgets.
In law school, the vast majority of grad students take out huge loans. This is much riskier, and is a big part of why there is such job dissatisfaction among lawyers. They can’t afford to do anything but practice law to pay off the loans, even if they hate it. And law school is very different from law practice, so liking one is no guarantee that you’ll like the other.
If you have a sufficiently good technical background, sometimes you can get a job with a law firm that does patent work and get them to put you through school while working full- or part-time (usually night school, but sometimes days). This is what I did. I have a 3-year commitment to stay and practice patent law at the firm, rather like your ROTC commitment, but then I’m free and clear. If you work full-time or close to it and go to school at night, often there is no commitment afterwards at all.
If this is not an option, I recommend trying to get a job for a while as a paralegal or even a legal secretary. I’m not saying that you’ll do the same things as a lawyer - you won’t - but you’ll get to observe lawyers in their natural habitat, and if you ask a lot of questions, you will get a better idea of whether the practice of law is for you.