You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your money nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings and open those ears. It's the money talk with Tiff podcast. Hey everyone. I am so excited because I have Doctor Darla Bishop here on the line and she's here to talk to us about how she made it through grad school with $0 in new debt. I told her, not being selfish or anything, y'all, that I'm
interested in these tips as well. So. Hey, doctor Darlingenhe. Darla, how are you? Hey, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me on the show. Yeah, my pleasure. And thank you for joining us with this topic because I feel like it's something we've never talked about and I feel like I may know some people that need help. So let's just jump right into it. When we're talking about grad school, you say you have five things that made it possible. What's the first one? So I do have to back
up a little bit and tell people that. So I have a doctorate in public health and I on purpose chose a school that would allow me to work as a full time or mostly full time employee while also pursuing school. So that was actually probably one of the first decisions I made. I didn't even apply to programs that were going to require me to
be a full time student. And there's a bunch of reasons for that. The first one being I'm nothing and was not, especially at that time, far enough out of poverty to just be like, I'm going to be in grad school for four or five years and only live off of student loans or whatever package they decide they want to give me that was not going to work. And so I only applied to and decided to ultimately attend a university that was built around working professionals where most of our classes were in the
evenings or that we had some online options. Those didn't come until I was near the end of my program, but they did eventually come up and that allowed me and respected the fact that, you know, I was working and that I was a mid career professional and that I didn't want to take a four or five year career break to go to graduate school. So one of the first decisions that you can make as you're thinking about graduate
school is decide is your life set up? Is your learning style set up for being a full time student and a part time worker? Well, maybe you are working in a research lab or you've got a little part time side gig just to keep a tiny bit of money rolling in? Or is your life and your learning style set up that you need to be engaged in full or almost full time work and being
a part time student? Yeah, let's pause on that real quick because that was one of the things that I struggled with for a long time when trying to figure out what school I was going to go to because I was originally going to go for my PhD in business and all of the business. Well, I'll say most because I don't know about all, but a lot of the ones that I've seen and heard about and all of that, they all required you to do it full time, do it
to where you could work. Like they told me I would not be able to run my business when I go to grad school. And I said, oh, like I have three kids that I'm taking care of, that's not gonna work. And that's why I had delayed for so long until I had finally enrolled in a PhD in social work program that was more flexible and understanding. And so that's a good point because a lot of people that I've talked to is
like, I didn't know that they had stipulations like that. And you have to look at the program because that is a thing, right? And for some people that absolutely works and is an investment
worth making. Right. Where especially if you go to some of these name brand MBA programs, you need to be fully available for the program because of not only the class schedule, but because of the required, but thankfully usually lucrative, what is that called internship that you do between your first and second year that hopefully leads you to that really nice
high paying job once you are leaving the MBA. And so for some people, taking that two year work break is absolutely worthwhile because they know that they'll make the money back based on their career change. For other people who maybe their bills are just not set up that way. Maybe they're already caregiving, already married that don't work. And so you have to be real about what will and won't work with not only your learning style, but your life setup. Yes, and that is so true. Like different
programs work for different people. So I feel like that is super important as well. So now that we talked about number one, let's get to number two. What's the second thing that people do can do when they're thinking
about grad schools and doing it for low cost? The second thing to do is once you get to the program is figure out if and whether and when it makes sense to work for your university, because the university I attended had a very strong and generous employee benefit, that if I decided to go work for the university, my tuition would have been 96% covered. So I would have only had to come up with 4% of my tuition costs, plus one very small $50 per semester fee. And so I actually sat down
with my spouse. I was already married when I was doing graduate school, and we did the math, you know, what would it look like if I left my job, which did include compensation, retirement benefits, as well as an annual bonus for a slightly lower paying job at the university so that I could have my tuition
covered? It turned out that the math told us it was better for me to stay at my corporate job that had a bonus and the retirement match was a little bit better, but it was only a few thousand dollars
difference at that time, so it really could have gone either way. And so one of the other important things to do is to actually check what the benefits packages are for employees of your university, because it might be a great fit for you to go get a full time or whatever they consider a full time benefits eligible job, which might only be 50 or 60% to work at the university. So you can get that
tuition discount. Yes, I love that. And one thing that I did, just to tag onto that, because I did something similar with my university, your first year tuition was covered if you did an assistantship. And so I did that route even though unfortunately you didn't get the benefits and stuff, but at least the tuition was covered and I was able to get a paycheck every month
and still run my business. So, you know, definitely look at the different schools and see what they offer, just like doctor Dollar said. So let's get into number three. What's the third thing people can do? The third thing is just like, even if this, you're a college student or have a college student living in your life. What we sometimes forget is whatever the benefits package or the scholarship package we got when we came in, that doesn't mean it's fixed for all three, four,
five years of your program. Every year there are new scholarships available. And whenever you start a new program, your GPA is starting over at 4.0. So even if your previous GPA wasn't that great, if you can keep it up that first semester or two, that gives you access to a whole new set of assistantships, scholarships and fellowships, some that you need to apply for and some that will just come automatically because of your merit GPA. So keep that GPA very strong that first
semester. So whatever you got to do to get off your plate to be a strong student, you know, lowering your responsibility at your day job if you're still working, making sure you have a strong childcare plan
if you're parenting, make sure that your spouse knows how to cover you. When it's a week, you have a bunch of papers or presentations due, you know, having things in place so that if it's just too busy to cook, you don't have to spend a million dollars on takeout all week because you got a few things in the freezer or you got a relative or a friend or a cousin
who can come take care of dinner at least one of those nights, right? Put some things in place so that you can be a really strong student that first semester or two. Oh, that is a gem right there that I didn't even think about. And I've called myself the queen of saving money, but I did not think about how your package can change. You know, how you can look at new things, new opportunities based on merit. I never thought about that. So that is an excellent idea for those thinking about grad
school. Now let's get into number four on our list. So number four is there are all these expenses that come up with being a graduate student. So maybe you figured out the tuition, right? You got the tuition covered. But what about your books? What if you have to do an internship as part of getting your credits to graduate? What if you need to travel to a conference? Make sure that you are finding funds to cover those expenses because maybe you got the tuition under
control. But those things, conferences, presentations, travel, can add up to thousands of dollars a year. So make sure that you are always in your department's office saying, hey, how you doing? You got a new mug. Because having that relationship when you're like, hey, I really want to go to this conference, but it's going to run me about two k between the registration, plus the hotel room, plus the travel, does the school have any
funds? Guess what they'll be like. Actually, yeah, we do have some funds. Make sure you apply by this date. I love that. And I'm gonna throw a little bonus tip in there. You can do this with your job, too. So if there are any conferences or anything that you think would be beneficial to your role or like doctor Darla said to your schooling, ask them people, because you never know unless you ask. That's right. And there is a part two to this one.
One of the ways I actually got almost $18,000 simply because every semester I would go to the registrar's office and say, hey, I'm a graduate student. I'm a doctoral student. I've been here this many years just checking if there's any unused or uncommitted funds. And what I mean by that is, if you're a doctoral student, especially people who are in a PhD program are similar. Frequently, at least a handful of them are
fully funded, which means they have an assistantship tied to them. They have some scholarship dollars or fellowship dollars tied to them, but sometimes things change. So student A, who came in as a fully funded student, maybe at some point in their program, they convert it to a full time employee, which means that their tuition dollars went way down
because they're getting it through their benefits. So that scholarship money that previously had student A's name on it no longer has student A's name on it. And so because I made sure I asked, hey, is there any uncommitted tuition money? You know, I'm a little bit short for tuition this upcoming semester. They'd be like, oh, yeah, actually, your classmate, student a, just started working for the university, so we don't have anything this semester, but
next semester you can have their. Their scholarship. And so I got that person scholarship for two semesters. That was $18,000 just because I asked. Wow, that is a gem right there. Like, I wish I had the dun dun dun dun because you deserve the horns on that one. That is a great idea. And I don't. It's not common knowledge. And even, like, for instance, when I was in my program, nobody
ever said that. Like, they talked about the grants and they talked about going to conferences and all that stuff, but they never said there might be some uncommitted funds or. You know, that's right. And it was one of those things that I created an email template, and I'll tell you about this at the end that people can get from my website so that if they are a graduate student, grab the email template. Send this email every semester, because the worst
they can tell you is, stop emailing me. We ain't got nothing for you. The best they can tell is, like, actually, we got all the money. You want it now or you want it next semester? Not. You coming with the templates? Yeah. Let's go ahead and get into number five just so we can get to. To see how we can get these templates. What is number five? So, number five, this one might not work for everyone. So that's why I kind of left it on the end because I know people listen to podcasts this way.
They listen to the most important stuff first. So this one might not work if you're already parenting or married, but if you are going to a university that has dorms or residence halls, consider being a resident advisor, because graduate students can be a resident advisor
or consider being a hall director. And so if you in your undergraduate studies had any experience being a resident advisor, an RA being in student government, being a student leader, then a lot of times you can qualify for these jobs. And what being a resident advisor or a hall director does is not only do you get a stipend or salary, you also get free living expenses because you then live in a
dorm. Now, if you're a resident advisor, you live in a dorm room. So that will really only work if you're a single person or a not married person who needs to live with their partner. Now, if you are married and even parenting, then you could be a hall director because those are
apartments that are situated within the dorm. And so that is a way to take your living costs way down because you now have a meal plan, you have access to a cafeteria, and you're not paying any rent on top of getting some sort of stipendous or salary. Now, I do want to add something to that one. So one thing that I heard of someone doing in my program, you know, they had to commute, and so they asked the school, you know, is there a way for these
days when I have to be up here to stay, you know, stay somewhere? Come to find out the school may, depending on where you're at, have, you know, rooms that you can rent for very, very low compared to, you know, a hotel or what have you for very, very low. And that's what she did. She would come up for like two days a week or two or three days a week and then go back home. But it was like super cheap. That's
right. Like there might be sometimes if they have, like an executive in residence program, they have little, small apartments or even a mini hotel usually attached to the business school, or they might just have a hotel, right? Because the university is always welcoming speakers and guest professors and people for short terms that they do usually have some sort of living experience. It might not be the best, but like you said, it could be very helpful for your
budget. For sure. For sure. Now, all of those tips are great tips for our grad students out there, people thinking about graduate school. Just to have in mind. Now, you mentioned templates you knew I was going to go back to this how can we find these templates? And what is it that you help people do? So I am the author of how to afford everything, and I've just finished an
ebook called how to Afford College. I originally wrote it as how to afford graduate school, but my editor was like, you know, more people go to college than grad school, right? And I was like, oh, good point. So I broadened the tips a little bit so that it could apply to that first year student who's going to undergrad for the first time, or that person who was kind of like me, who was an older student going back to a graduate program
after they had already established some other parts of their life. And so the ebook will be available very soon. And so if you go to my website how to affordeverything.com and hit the little resources button, not only will you find the email template that I used so that I could get money from my department every year, that led to $18,000.02 full semesters of tuition just because
I always asked, but you'll also be put on my email list. So that way when the ebook is fully published and available for purchase, you'll get the first notice that you can go get the ebook how to afford college, which has all the juicy details. Awesome. Awesome. I definitely want to check that out and I'll make sure I have those links in the show notes for the audience. And also, how can we communicate with you, like social media? Or how can
people reach out to you? Oh, thank you so much for asking. If anything I've said today has been useful or helpful to you or you think it might be for somebody in your life, come find me on Instagram. That's where I'm most active, my underscore finances. Or if you're not sure how to spell that, just come to my website, darlabishop.com and it'll get you linked to all the things. All the things. Thank you so much for coming on the show today, and I'll make
sure I have all those links so people can reach out to you. Get these templates, get these ebooks and everything else that you have available. So thank you so much and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Oh, same to you. Bye. Thank you for listening, joining and being a part of the Money Talk with TiFf podcast this week. You can check tiff out every Thursday for a
new money Talk podcast. But if you just can't wait until next week, you can listen to previous podcast [email protected] or follow TIFF on all social media platforms at moneytalkwitht. Until next time, spend wise by spending less than you make. A word to the money wise is always sufficient.