6 Ways To Convince Your Parents To Help You Pay For Grad School

By Francine Fluetsch on July 14, 2016

This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test prep for over 90 standardized tests, including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.

Are you thinking of furthering your education and pursuing a graduate degree? Many students want to attend grad school, but don’t want to add to their already mile high student loans. If you are in this boat, maybe your parents might be able to help? I know, I know, it’s hard to ask them, but you’re their little baby!

Here are six ways that you might be able to convince them to help you pay for some of your grad school expenses.

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1) Show them your passion.

Your parents want the best for you, so if you can prove to them that grad school is what you really want, and that you will work your hardest when you get there, it will be a strong selling point. Show them all the jobs that you’ll be able to get with your graduate degree, and how happy that would make you. Make sure to show this in comparison to the job choices that you have with only your bachelor’s. If they see your passion, that light in your eyes as you talk about the program and what you’ll be learning, you might get them to agree to help with payments.

2) Do your research.

Your parents will be more willing to help you financially if you have answers to all of their questions. Make sure to research multiple grad schools so you apply to the ones that best suit what you want to do, and ones that might be able to pay for some of your tuition.

If you show that you are being proactive and that you aren’t just applying to any random grad school, they will be able to see how serious you are about making it work and that their help would be much appreciated. Most grad schools offer T.A. positions after your first year, so if you tell your parents that you’ll apply for things like that that will lower your tuition, they might be willing to help you out for the first year with your tuition, or spot you on rent if you come up short.

3) Use your spreadsheet skills.

If you want to ask your parents for help, it might be a good idea to make a spreadsheet showing everything that you can pay yourself, and what you’d appreciate their help with. If you’re trying to only work part-time while you go to school, budget out what you make and how much that would cover, from rent to food to gas to tuition.

If they see that you plan on paying for a lot and aren’t just expecting to freeload off of them, they might be more willing to help.

Some parents might expect you to pay them back, so maybe also make a plan for how you’ll be able to save up for that.

4) Show them how much loans suck.

Student loans are the reason we’ll be in debt until like our late 50s. My mom’s friend actually just paid off her student loans after 30 years of not being in school. How insane is that? If you show your parents how much the loans would negatively affect you now and in the future, they might agree to help out.

You’d have an easier time paying your parents back if they would like you to, since that wouldn’t acquire tons and tons of interest along the way.

Why not tell them you’ll pay it forward once you get your fancy new job with your second degree?

5) Tell them about the values of education.

You can never be overdressed or overeducated — remember that. Knowledge is honestly priceless, and if you put in the commitment to get into a grad school, you should be able to show your parents the value that this will have for you. The world is a lot different now than when they went to college. Before, you could get by pretty well with just a bachelor’s, heck even with just a high school diploma. But today, more and more companies are expecting more education out of the people that they are going to be hiring.

Show them how the extra money will be priceless to you, and will give you more and more opportunities to go after.

6) Give ‘em those puppy dog eyes.

If all else fails, revert back to the fact that you are their child and pull out the puppy dog face. They might roll their eyes, but deep down they love when you admit you are still their baby that they need to take care of. Use this sparingly or it will lose its power.

Hope some of these ideas help. Good luck getting that extra education! At the end of the day, your parents will always want what is best for you, and will surely help out in the best way that they can if you prove that you deserve it and will work hard for it. Don’t forget to thank them immensely if they agree to help you.

Learn more about Kaplan’s test prep options and start building the confidence you need for Test Day.

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