Author Topic: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?  (Read 9864 times)

maizefolk

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #50 on: December 22, 2019, 10:47:41 AM »
Get out of your current living situation. How much would it extend out your debt repayment clock if you moved into an apartment, with a kitchen, in a building with good soundproofing?

PrezZaphod

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #51 on: December 22, 2019, 11:13:53 AM »
Get out of your current living situation. How much would it extend out your debt repayment clock if you moved into an apartment, with a kitchen, in a building with good soundproofing?

Two-three months if I found a 2-bed, recruited a roommate, and slept in a sleeping bag, plus everyone around here wants to lock you into a year lease with extremely unfavorable terms. I check listings weekly.

maizefolk

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #52 on: December 22, 2019, 11:55:46 AM »
You could factor the cost of breaking the lease early in order to move into the cost of getting out of that situation.

I lived in some really crappy places when I was out in CA and it definitely worsened my enjoyment of life and outlook on life.

You've got at least four problems right now, two of which can be solved with clever applications of money.

-Bored at work. <-- money won't help here.
-Worried about defaulting if you lost your job. <-- spending a little extra on interest can help a lot here by redirecting surplus loan repayment spending into a savings account until you can crush the loans in one fell swoop.
-Isolated and lonely. <-- Money probably won't help here, but the less unhappy you otherwise are, the easier it is to make new social connections, whether in grad school or the "real world."
-Being dragged into experiencing interpersonal conflict whenever you go home to what should be your space to relax and recharge <-- money absolutely can solve this one.

Did you and your ex live together before you broke up and then you moved into this place? Or were you already living in the place with the screaming landlady and family?

PrezZaphod

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #53 on: December 22, 2019, 12:06:29 PM »
You could factor the cost of breaking the lease early in order to move into the cost of getting out of that situation.

I lived in some really crappy places when I was out in CA and it definitely worsened my enjoyment of life and outlook on life.

You've got at least four problems right now, two of which can be solved with clever applications of money.

-Bored at work. <-- money won't help here.
-Worried about defaulting if you lost your job. <-- spending a little extra on interest can help a lot here by redirecting surplus loan repayment spending into a savings account until you can crush the loans in one fell swoop.
-Isolated and lonely. <-- Money probably won't help here, but the less unhappy you otherwise are, the easier it is to make new social connections, whether in grad school or the "real world."
-Being dragged into experiencing interpersonal conflict whenever you go home to what should be your space to relax and recharge <-- money absolutely can solve this one.

Did you and your ex live together before you broke up and then you moved into this place? Or were you already living in the place with the screaming landlady and family?

I'll do some research on the cost of breaking the leases; it's possible there's some dollar value at which I could afford to do so.

The landlady is actually a pretty nice person, but her mother is a banshee and the rest of her family literally abandoned their mother at the hospital and refused to pick her up. CA social services refuse to provide any care or assistance and the mother refuses to let doctors examine her, so until the dementia she's definitely developing causes a serious problem or she takes an inevitable bad fall on the stairs we don't have any way to get her gone. At least, not one that doesn't involve literally kicking her out on the street, which my landlady refuses to do.

I mention this to explain why I was living with her for most of a year before her mom came and the screaming started. So, there's the answer to that question.

maizefolk

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #54 on: December 22, 2019, 12:12:56 PM »
Okay, that makes more sense. I was assuming you'd found a place with super low rent because the layout meant were basically embedded in the life of the landlord family and the family was disfunctional. Instead you actually had a decent place the live, and then the environment changed around you.

In a hot rental market (like the one it sounds like you are in) you can often negotiate with your landlord (once you are ready to leave) to pay much less than the maximum you might owe if they can get the apartment re-rented quickly. Often they'll even be able to charge the new tenant a higher rent than they'd get to charge you if you served out your entire rent.

PrezZaphod

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #55 on: December 22, 2019, 12:20:05 PM »
Could you  just do some longer-term Air Bnbs strung together?  I was browsing recently and surprised to see how much availability there is, and for pretty reasonable prices.  But that's in Seattle in the winter.  I assume the longer term options dry up here along with the rainy season. 

Your current living situation sounds absolutely miserable and unhealthy.  It sounds like you really really want to go to grad school, and I don't have any problem with that regardless of your debt level (which you also have thought through -- good job!).  But do be aware of your tendency to buckle down and grit it through in what might be very unhealthy situations.  It can be admirable, but it also can do a lot of long-term damage.

The absolute cheapest thing I can find is ~$30/night, which comes out to ~a month's delay in repayment. Most of what I see is closer to ~$50 per night. It's cheap, but not cheap enough.

Okay, that makes more sense. I was assuming you'd found a place with super low rent because the layout meant were basically embedded in the life of the landlord family and the family was disfunctional. Instead you actually had a decent place the live, and then the environment changed around you.

In a hot rental market (like the one it sounds like you are in) you can often negotiate with your landlord (once you are ready to leave) to pay much less than the maximum you might owe if they can get the apartment re-rented quickly. Often they'll even be able to charge the new tenant a higher rent than they'd get to charge you if you served out your entire rent.

Luckily for me, my current place is month-to-month, so I don't have to worry about breaking a lease. If you're talking about possibly not being liable for my full leased term on another place, that's an interesting point I wasn't aware of. I'll continue looking at what's around with an eye to that.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2019, 12:23:44 PM by PrezZaphod »

FIFoFum

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #56 on: December 22, 2019, 12:36:11 PM »
I agree with the advice that you should go to grad school, but only to a (well-vetted) program that has an MS/Phd, so you can bail with the masters if need be. The PhD is the worse financial choice of the 2 degrees, so you need a real reason to aim for a PhD over an MS that is specifically about the type of work you will/want to do. You haven't expressed that, and it sounds like you don't even know right now if the PhD really is necessary for what you want.

Lots of companies do not require a PhD to do interesting R&D, so don't get caught up in the level system of your own employer. Browse job listings that sound like you would want and look at the actual requirements/qualification of the actual people working the jobs.

From the opposite side, I would focus right now on building that professional network - who is doing the type of work you want to do and how did they get there? Those are the people you need to start getting to know and understand. You don't have to do a PhD to build a professional network.

It's unlikely that you need a PhD to do R&D that wouldn't bore you, but each field is unique and there has been a certain amount of "degree creep" that makes a lot of advice - even in one's own field - outdated.

Once you are in a program, I'd go in with the mindset that you're planning for a terminal masters and only open to the PhD if that's really the best decision for you - despite the financial shortcoming of that path.

The hard thing is that you may have to "sell" everyone in your program on your desire for the PhD and be surrounded by a culture that treats that as the obvious/desirable path and the MS as lesser than. That's part of what MANY of the posters above are trying to warn you about.

All that said - I think you need to ease up on yourself and your current financial situation. Not all educational debt is "bad" and you're NOT in the emergency your brain - and this forum and the internet - seem to be telling you that you are. You are a smart, young guy. If you take longer to pay off your debt, so f-ing what?

Right now, you are setting yourself up how you're going to spend the rest of your working life (and maybe beyond that!). Don't foreclose the opportunity to work in areas that require "worse" financial choices to get to do what you're interested in doing. You have the potential to earn your current salary and much much more in the future. Similarly, don't live in miserable conditions that make you stressed and unhappy to knock off your debt faster.

Your brain is latching on to knocking off this debt as a solution to your situation, and it's NOT a healthy choice right now.

roomtempmayo

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #57 on: December 23, 2019, 09:35:29 AM »
My advice is to totally decouple the living situation and your mental health from a decision to go to grad school.

If you're looking back at undergrad as the last time you were happy, and you want to go to grad school to try and recreate those dynamics, don't.  It won't happen. 

Most of the fun parts of undergrad are absent from grad school, and most of the unpleasant parts are turned up to 11. 

Moreover, the research portion of doing a PhD is crazy-making for many/most people.  There aren't objective benchmarks for progress.  Instead, you're largely beholden to your advisor's decision that you've done enough.

Your primary value as a grad student is as cheap labor to your lab, advisor, or department.  The people who formerly nurtured you as an undergrad - i.e. your professors - are now going to turn around and exploit you.  You will have no ability to push back because your paycheck is a line in their budget, and they decide when/if you get your degree.

And in the back of your mind will be the reality that this degree you're working so hard for and getting jerked around over is unlikely to ever pay back the opportunity cost you incur getting it.  Which is in the best case scenario that you finish.  Lot's of people don't, partly because they don't understand what doing a PhD is about, and partly because the system is really screwed up.

PrezZaphod

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #58 on: December 23, 2019, 10:12:18 AM »
If you're looking back at undergrad as the last time you were happy, and you want to go to grad school to try and recreate those dynamics, don't.  It won't happen. 

...

The people who formerly nurtured you as an undergrad - i.e. your professors - are now going to turn around and exploit you.  You will have no ability to push back because your paycheck is a line in their budget, and they decide when/if you get your degree.

And in the back of your mind will be the reality that this degree you're working so hard for and getting jerked around over is unlikely to ever pay back the opportunity cost you incur getting it.  Which is in the best case scenario that you finish.

Again, I'm not expecting grad school to fix my life. I expect the change in circumstances to help, but that's completely divorced from grad school in my mind. I'm very aware that finding another job or even just getting a nicer place would help just as much.

And for what it's worth, I'm comfortable telling a hostile or overly exploitative PI to get fucked. I have a completely viable alternative to academia in my pocket and I know it. The question I started this thread to ask was never "will grad school make me happy?" but rather "is going to grad school a financially stupid decision?" I also fully understand that I shouldn't expect the financial return to be positive and I'm OK with that too. I just want to make sure I'm not actively fucking myself by going.

roomtempmayo

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #59 on: December 23, 2019, 11:02:55 AM »
I just want to make sure I'm not actively fucking myself by going.

If you go to grad school with a stipend of >$25k and decent health insurance guaranteed for the duration of your program, you'll likely come out fine financially.

However, you appear hung up about what's really a piddling amount of student debt.  Your current debt isn't a big deal.

The opportunity cost of going to grad school is a much bigger financial deal.  If your current salary is $77k and your grad school stipend is $27k, your opportunity cost is at least $50k/year.  If you finish grad school in five years financially treading water the whole time, you'll have incurred a $250k opportunity cost for the degree.  If this is a financial question, I'd strongly advise that you spend more time considering the $250k opportunity cost than the $40k you have in existing student loans.

Earlier you mentioned several bad and worst case scenarios in which you could default on your loans.  I hope this helps: none of those would ever need to happen.  Imagine that you lost your job and no other employer in the entire United States would hire you.  What do you do?  Default on your loans?  Heck no.  You move absolutely anywhere abroad, and you put your loans on income based repayment.  Because you are reporting zero taxable income in the US, your contractual obligation will be $0/month in perpetuity.  You will be fully current on your obligation, and you will be paying nothing.  If you decide you like it abroad, after 20 years on IBR the balance of your loan will be forgiven.  Now I'm not saying you should think of that as a first or even third option, but it's a real, legal way of dealing with your loan debt.  If you can get yourself on a plane, there is no scenario in which you would be forced to default.  You will be fine, you are not trapped, and I hope that gives you a little peace of mind.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2019, 11:13:43 AM by caleb »

FIFoFum

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #60 on: December 23, 2019, 11:14:58 AM »
From a purely financial standpoint, the opportunity cost of 2 years to get a masters will likely be outweighed by both the potential to earn more due to the jobs available to you with that degree AND your likelihood to earn more $ on account of actually liking the job you do (so you'll do better, work more, etc.).

The opportunity cost of 5-6+ years at this stage of your earnings life is obviously, far more financially devastating. You won't be able to save money at the most critical time in your earnings life for compounding - true of the masters as well, of course (but with a much shorter time frame!).

And at the end of the PhD tunnel is NOT necessarily the opportunity to earn any more income than if you just get a masters. Pursuing the PhD would be a serious financial mis-step. You would be sacrificing key earning years for something with no or a very nebulous financial benefit, especially if you don't need it for work in R&D you would like.

wellactually

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #61 on: December 24, 2019, 10:29:54 AM »
When we were aggressively paying off federal student loans, it always presented as a pre-payment with FedLoan. That meant that if we did have a crisis, we could stop paying on the loans for a LONG while before we were in danger of default. When we logged on to FedLoan, it showed when the next actual payment was due and it was several years later.

I'm not sure which servicer you have, but if that is also the case for you on the federal loans you have, then maybe looking at that next payment date will help give you some peace about how much of a crisis you're actually in.

I'm seeing now that most of your payment currently is to the private student loan, but maybe as you finish paying off the private loan, this will comfort you about federal loan payments so you don't feel like the forbearance cliff is right ahead of you.

You make 77k/year and owe under 40k at age 24 with almost 10k in the bank. You owed 87.5k two years ago. You've dug yourself out pretty far already. You'll be free of private student loans in 5 months!

If I were you, I would...

-Put the money in my HSA necessary to keep up the therapy cost. This is a health need.
-Continue the grad school applications
-Reassess the payoff strategy after the private loans are gone
-Build in some milestone treats. This does not have to be anything big. But maybe when you get below 30k total debt, you buy yourself a steak or get your favorite six pack or buy that new pair of shoes you've been denying yourself for months. Even if it's just a milkshake or a new movie download or a bag of your favorite coffee beans, recognizing your progress will help develop a growth mindset.

PrezZaphod

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #62 on: December 24, 2019, 03:19:24 PM »
Sorry for the long delay; I think I missed the last notification email for a reply to the thread or something.


If you go to grad school with a stipend of >$25k and decent health insurance guaranteed for the duration of your program, you'll likely come out fine financially.

However, you appear hung up about what's really a piddling amount of student debt.  Your current debt isn't a big deal.

The opportunity cost of going to grad school is a much bigger financial deal.  If your current salary is $77k and your grad school stipend is $27k, your opportunity cost is at least $50k/year.  If you finish grad school in five years financially treading water the whole time, you'll have incurred a $250k opportunity cost for the degree.  If this is a financial question, I'd strongly advise that you spend more time considering the $250k opportunity cost than the $40k you have in existing student loans.

From a purely financial standpoint, the opportunity cost of 2 years to get a masters will likely be outweighed by both the potential to earn more due to the jobs available to you with that degree AND your likelihood to earn more $ on account of actually liking the job you do (so you'll do better, work more, etc.).

The opportunity cost of 5-6+ years at this stage of your earnings life is obviously, far more financially devastating. You won't be able to save money at the most critical time in your earnings life for compounding - true of the masters as well, of course (but with a much shorter time frame!).

And at the end of the PhD tunnel is NOT necessarily the opportunity to earn any more income than if you just get a masters. Pursuing the PhD would be a serious financial mis-step. You would be sacrificing key earning years for something with no or a very nebulous financial benefit, especially if you don't need it for work in R&D you would like.

I recognize the opportunity cost I'm incurring here and am probably willing to pay it; I am open to dropping out with a master's as many in this thread have suggested (and all of the programs I've applied to allow this), but honestly I regard the opportunity cost as a QoL investment. Different moustaches for different folks; I'm willing to extend my working career slightly if I'm doing something I enjoy more. But I do recognize this tradeoff.

...

I'm seeing now that most of your payment currently is to the private student loan, but maybe as you finish paying off the private loan, this will comfort you about federal loan payments so you don't feel like the forbearance cliff is right ahead of you.

You make 77k/year and owe under 40k at age 24 with almost 10k in the bank. You owed 87.5k two years ago. You've dug yourself out pretty far already. You'll be free of private student loans in 5 months!

If I were you, I would...

-Put the money in my HSA necessary to keep up the therapy cost. This is a health need.
-Continue the grad school applications
-Reassess the payoff strategy after the private loans are gone
-Build in some milestone treats. This does not have to be anything big. But maybe when you get below 30k total debt, you buy yourself a steak or get your favorite six pack or buy that new pair of shoes you've been denying yourself for months. Even if it's just a milkshake or a new movie download or a bag of your favorite coffee beans, recognizing your progress will help develop a growth mindset.


Yeah, the worry I have is really mostly in relation to the private loan, which, as you say, will be gone soon. It sounds like the federal loans are going to be quite easy to deal with in grad school as well, which is fantastic news. I'm expecting to get some number of gift cards this Christmas, which I'll be treating myself with.

PrezZaphod

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #63 on: March 31, 2020, 01:04:43 PM »
Update to this thread, in case anyone is interested.

My living situation continues to be bad, but my mental health has seen an enormous improvement, despite working from home in the environment I previously described. On the plus side, I haven't been laid off and I think I'm unlikely to be in the next few months. I was accepted everywhere I applied, and while I still have a couple weeks to formally decide, I'm probably turning down MIT for a position at another R1 university with an advisor who seems better at mentoring and is doing more interesting work. Being in a place where I'm going to be able to afford to live alone on a grad student stipend (and still save!) is going to help too, I think.

I was in a really bad place late last year, and I'm very grateful for all of your kind words. It's just within the last month or so, as the realization that I've actually managed to carve myself a way out of this mess has really sunk in, that that's lifted. I'm spending a good chunk of my free time lately reading papers, textbooks, and old notes, and I couldn't be happier to be engaging with this kind of material again.

Between my working income up to August, $5,000 I loaned to my parents a year or two ago, and a ~$3,000 tax refund coming in 2021, I should be able to pay the very last of the debt off by March of next year without putting much towards it after summer. My progress is in this thread: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/student-loan-challenge-(2020-edition)/.  If my parents can find the money to pay me back (which they said they were hoping to do in March, but natch), I may finish everything but the interest-free loan before then. Next month my private loan, originally at $65k, will be gone, and then I'll be banking money to pay the federal loans, which are going into deferment with interest waived courtesy of the government. I'm about to be free of this $1,000 a month liability, and will have enough cash on hand to live on for about 6 months without it. No more sword of Damocles. I'm already sleeping better than I have for months.

Anyway, just wanted to give an update and say thank you.

maizefolk

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #64 on: March 31, 2020, 01:51:48 PM »
My living situation continues to be bad, but my mental health has seen an enormous improvement, despite working from home in the environment I previously described. On the plus side, I haven't been laid off and I think I'm unlikely to be in the next few months. I was accepted everywhere I applied, and while I still have a couple weeks to formally decide, I'm probably turning down MIT for a position at another R1 university with an advisor who seems better at mentoring and is doing more interesting work. Being in a place where I'm going to be able to afford to live alone on a grad student stipend (and still save!) is going to help too, I think.

Hey congratulations! On both the improved mental health and the grad school acceptances.

Prioritizing fit with advisor over the absolute highest ranked school definitely makes sense (as long as the other school is still a good one with the resources to support grad students and your advisor's program). And Boston is a super expensive city.

Now is probably a good time to hang out in grad school for a number of years and you've timed it perfectly. I got into grad school in '08 and there is no way I would have been accepted at the same school at year later in '09. So many more strong applications who normally would have gone straight into the workforce but nobody was hiring by the summer of 2009.

PrezZaphod

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #65 on: March 31, 2020, 03:35:33 PM »
Thanks! I'm guaranteed a stipend for 5 years, and nobody in the PI's lab has had funding problems. We'll see how the grant money goes over the next few years, but I have a feeling it'll work out pretty well.

And yes, the timing on this has been incredibly fortuitous for me. I squeezed in on a much easier round of applications, and the opportunity cost is suddenly a LOT lower.

Tass

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #66 on: March 31, 2020, 08:13:08 PM »
Really glad to hear about the improvement in your situation and mental health, @PrezZaphod. I agree that an advisor who cares about mentoring is a huge advantage. Make sure you keep taking care of yourself over the years you're there.

ysette9

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #67 on: March 31, 2020, 08:32:24 PM »
Thanks for the update. Best of luck and stay safe and healthy.

Freedomin5

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #68 on: April 01, 2020, 12:49:30 AM »
Congratulations! It sounds like you are in a much better place mentally.

Laura33

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Re: Case Study - am I in a good position to go to grad school?
« Reply #69 on: April 01, 2020, 12:26:15 PM »
Congratulations!  Thanks so much for the update, and I am very glad things are going better for you than they were at the end of last year. 

 

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