Howwwww do we afford this 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 education????
We don’t lol. The government affords it for us. Ugh, that sounds horrible. See, this is why talking about money in grad school is not done a lot….it’s depressing. But….
Being a PT is an amazing career and also a pretty great salary too! So don’t fear, these 3 years will be over sooner than you know, and you’ll be making your 60-90k soon enough!
Meanwhile, while in grad school, there are some things that might make your total loan amount lower, and here I’m going to tell you what I’m doing. This is not advice at all, I am not a CFP or accountant or anything duh…. I’m going to PT school. So this is just what I’m doing, take it or leave it.
Tuition
Right now, for my mental health and sanity, I am not really worried about the cost of tuition. Many of my classmates are irritated about certain classes saying, oh wow we pay 3000 for this class, and I do that too! But it’s really better to just look at PT school as one total class with one total expense that will get you this one total degree so you can be this one total thing: a DPT.
Also for my mental health and sanity, I am not really focusing on the loans that are adding up for tuition. I do make some payments on them, but I am not allowing the total to get to me at this point. Because, frankly, there’s nothing I can do about it right now.
But for your viewing pleasure, here is a breakdown of tuition. Our credits cost around 700 each (not an exact number) with all the fees and other stuff included. So our semesters are around 14 credits each (some less, there was one that was more) so 14 x 700 = $9800 per semester (approximately).
Or, to look at it all together, in total the program is 113 credits x 700 = $79,100 just for tuition.
Expenses
OK here is an overview of my monthly expenses:
Financial “Expenses”
I am listing these first because I am a firm believer in pay yourself first. This is one of the best pieces of financial advice out there – this is how you make sure you are growing your investments and savings and secondly paying down debt if you have any.
- Auto-investment in my mutual fund portfolios ~ $200
- Extra principal payment on my rental property mortgage ~ $30
- Auto-payment for my student loans ~ $200
Total: $430 (Those are the minimum amounts I put in, I also add more at various intervals)
Other Expenses
Rent ~ $540 (this is a mega-great deal for Miami sooooo thankful)
Utilities ~ around $60
Phone ~ $40 (shared plan)
Car insurance ~ $90
Health insurance ~ $30 (thanks Obama!)
Dental insurance ~ $10 (seriously, it’s so cheap, get dental insurance)
Gas ~ my mom gave me a gas credit card to help me while in school ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ (that being said I don’t drive a ton other than out-of-town trips and I have a non-gas-guzzler car – want a hybrid some day!)
Adobe ~ $16 (got a student deal on Black Friday — I need this for work and all my side projects)
Spotify ~ $5 student deal (necessary lol)
Food ~ $200 (I have no idea how this is so high, I shop at Aldi or Publix BOGOs and make almost everything at home….I have tried to analyze this and I just don’t know!)
Clothes ~ $50 (On average)
Random ~ $100 (buying random stuff online, going to events that have entrance fees, the occasional meal out, whatever random little stuff I need or do)
Total : $1136
Income
OK I’m not gonna break down everything here because I’m not a finance blogger and I like some privacy. Plus it varies by month. So I probably make around $2000 per month.
$2000 – $230 – $1136 = $434 left
So that extra $434 I either put into savings or it’s for one time expenses and random emergency stuff. For example, this month I had dental work for $180, I bought a 3 day Florida resident Disney pass (I know, I KNOW) for $190, flood insurance for my house for $650, and I had to buy a new MacBook Pro since BOTH of my old ones died (one was so old the Apple Genius bar guy called it “vintage” lol 🤣). I got it refurbished and a slightly older model for around $1000. So THAT was an expensive month!
Thankfully, many months go by without those kinds of expenses. So I am very lucky to have my financial situation, but I also work my a$$ off….get it? 😊