What can I do to help finance grad school?

Your best bet is to see if UCONN has a title IVE program (which is probably does as it is the only school of social work in the state). Title IV E programs provide a payback program for MSW’s to professionalize child welfare. For each year of tuition you get you give a year back (PAID). This is the best deal around that most are able to qualify for. There are other grants, scholarships and funding sources out there, and you can and should look into these (most libraries have rescources to help you identify them – and many financial aid offices will help). The school of social work at UCT may also be of help here. DA

I would consider waiting before you go to grad school. Get some work experience and pay off some of the debt before you make a decision to pile it up. No one is a better teacher than Experience, itself.

Think about this, the only way for you to finance anything is to take out loans (unless you have rich parents who are willing to pull the money out of their butts). By the time you’re done with grad school, you will have DOUBLE the debt… with no work experience, you probably wont get paid what you deserve, less likely will you earn enough to pay off the debt. This will be a big drawback once you graduate, you’ve got this big degree and a bigger liability. BUT, if you have work experience first and some time to pay off some of the money, go back to grad school, get your loan, when you get in the field (WITH PRIOR EXPERIENCE), you’ll be well grounded and your debt wont consume you.