Hello everyone!
I am in the process of pursuing my doctoral degree. I have been accepted into IUP's Clinical Psychology PsyD program! Additionally, I have interviewed for University of Denver's PsyD program. I am currently a LMSW (soon to be a LCSW-C) and seeking the "next" step towards my overall career goals and interests, and I feel, after much consultation with my colleagues (psychiatrists, PsyD's, PhD's etc; perks of working at a major psychiatric hospital) that getting a PsyD is the next best step, for a number of reasons.
Financially I'm in a decent position. I have no current student loans and/or debt, and have some savings. That said University of Denver's program is completely unrealistic to engage in (having attended their "financial aid" session) given graduates are unlikely to receive much in terms of scholarships and assistantships are not guaranteed. In no way can I justify a 300K student loan debt. Maybe, I'll be a special unicorn and be one of the few students that gets a full ride offer of admission, but I sincerely doubt that. I'm honestly mind blown as to how one can justify that amount of debt, even if the program is amazing. I guess people are okay being in debt till retirement, or have rich relatives... in any case, not in my world. Therefore, I've been focusing on IUP
As an out of state student, the total tuition over five years (although the fifth year is an internship year and I could be already working to pay down debt) is around 110K. I'm still waiting to hear back more officially, but the program director indicated that yearly, all students get about a 10-14K stipend that can be applied to tuition or living expenses. Going low ball (10K), that would bring total debt to, without the all-so-lovely interest, about 70K, if I applied it directly to tuition continually. Luckily the living expenses are CHEAP comparatively (rent between $300-600 monthly) and because of this I feel I could easily live off my savings at least the first year comfortably, and could easily stretch this for two years (I know this isn't the best and I wouldn't completely deplete everything).
Furthermore, I could work PRN remotely for my current place of employment on weekends for a few hours to easily supplement living expenses in general for my entire educational journey and I think this would be doable. Potentially, depending on how much a PRN position would do for covering living expenses, I could apply some savings to overall tuition costs. Still figuring out how things can swing in that area.
Someone wise once told me not to borrow more than first year's salary, so I'm just trying to get a sense if I am financially in over my head. I'm originally from DC Metro Area, and I'm thinking a beginning psychologist salary in this area is between 70-80K, with potential to earn up to ~100-140K in a short time, assuming I specialize and do well at what I do.
I am a person that is okay with debt but is anxious about being in debt. I'm wondering realistically how feasible it is to aggressively pay back such a big loan (as a single individual who can live pretty cheaply), and in how many years. I don't want to be in debt forever, and also really really want to have the level of expertise/opportunities this degree could give. I know friends who have this much debt from bachelor's degrees alone, working at jobs paying 50-60K a year, and they seem to have a decent 'living' situation, but also want to be wise in making decisions, and get other opinions.
My other concern is that IUP, a whole school, has had significant financial difficulty, seemingly in relation to decrease in overall admissions since the pandemic. I'm worried to commit to a school that, while making changes to address this, is in flux. It's hard to understand, even with the directors' candor, how concerned I should be about this.
Any thoughts on IUP as a school would be appreciated, both in terms of training, and stability as a school continuing to function through this pandemic. Additionally, any thoughts on financially what this doctoral program investment would look like and how to be wise, also would be incredibly appreciated.
