Education on Loan

October 28, 2011 4:06 PM

If I quit my graduate program, which is largely being paid for in full by my university and the state, will I suddenly owe money?

I am having major second thoughts about the graduate program I am in. I am not happy in it and I am disappointed by a lot of the classes. Everything has been paid for via grant and scholarship. My family is currently only paying for housing out of pocket, and even that's largely being covered (though we've spent $2500 or so on that in general).

If I were to quit my program, what happens to my financial situation? Do I suddenly owe money? I'd ask the FinAid office but I never get through to them.

posted by These Birds of a Feather to education (5 answers total)

We cannot answer this question without knowing the details of the grant and scholarship you have.

You should find the details of said grants/scholarships, and you will likely not need our help anymore.
posted by saeculorum at 4:07 PM on October 28, 2011

Oh man, I just realized that I have paperwork on this. My bad, thank you.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 4:09 PM on October 28, 2011

Not that long ago, I was considering quitting my doctoral program. I did not pay tuition and my department gave me a stipend and paid for my health insurance. My understanding of how things would work if I quit was that:

- I would stop getting stipend checks (duh);

- I would not owe any money for tuition;

- there was this weird situation where health insurance had to be paid for a whole year at a time. Therefore if I quit mid-year I could be liable for a pro-rated portion of my health insurance. (I suppose I would have actually gotten to use that health insurance, though, so that isn't such a horrible thing.)

I knew some people who quit and as far as I know they didn't suddenly owe money.

On a related note, I'm all for people quitting grad school; it's not for everyone. But I think that it is probably difficult to make this decision in the middle of a semester. Wait until the holidays and then make a decision.
posted by madcaptenor at 4:21 PM on October 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

AFAIK, the only time you would owe money is if you were taking out student loans, which it doesn't sound like you are.
posted by DoubleLune at 5:19 PM on October 28, 2011

I know someone who would have owed money had he quit his fully-funded grad program. He got around it by "going on leave."
posted by CutaneousRabbit at 6:40 PM on October 28, 2011