Furthering education while providing for family?

Question

Are there grants that can pay for you to live while you attend full time grad school? My husband wants to go back to school but the school is full time for 2 years and we have to provide for our family... How do other people manage doing this and are there grants available for this?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, for grad school, the picking is kind of slim.
There are no federal grants for grad students, just federal loans, which he can borrow up to $20,500 a year in Stafford loans, and then if he has extra expenses beyond that he can borrow through the Graduate PLUS loan program.
There may be money from the institution where he would like to go. Have him check with their office of financial aid.
Last, and possibly the best place to look is the internet. There are the national scholarship search engines such as (http://www.fastweb.com/, http://www.brokescholar.com/, http://www.collegetoolkit.com/Scholarship/Main.aspx, http://www.collegeanswer.com/paying/scholarship_search/pay_scholarship_search.jsp, http://www.scholarships.com/Main.aspx). In addition to those, Congresswomen Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) has created her own list of scholarships (
http://www.house.gov/roybal-allard/2006_Scholarship_Directory.pdf). He may want to Yahoo search for trade organizations associated with what he is planning on going to grad school for. He could check with his current employer, although it's somewhat rare for a company to let you take off two-years and go full-time on their dime, some will if you promise to come back, or pay them back.
I suspect that if he spent 5 hours a week for a year or so, he could find enough to cover tuition and a little extra for housing expenses, but I doubt that he would be able to find enough to completely replace his income. You will probably have to be working while he's in grad school, if you're not already, and money will be a bit tighter, but if you weigh how much it'll cost now and compare it to how much he should make after his degree, you can consider if it is really worth it (the answer may be no if the degree is just a passing fancy and not critical in his field).

Answer 2

The US Government has something called a PELL Grant that he might qualify for. He can inquire at the school he wants to attend. There are also low interest student loans to help with expenses of school and family. He should also ask about scholarships available through his school. Good luck! This should be started soon.