Alternatives to borrowing a couple grand for school (a post-grad program) without going the way of student loans?

Will your current employer sponsor you? Some companies and organisations will (though most don’t). You could approach your boss about it, unless you’re undertaking further education to get out of the job!

Grants and scholarships, yo!

@nikipedia is right – particularly at postgraduate level there are loads of grants and scholarships available (at least in the UK). Take a look at your university’s finance website and see what’s available. You often have to dig around for a while, but there’s usually at least something you can apply for.

Yup, scholarships and grants. There are tons of them out there, though it might be a little late in the year to apply for some of them. Also, I’m not sure whether you ever took out student loans, but OSAP is pretty great about forgiving a percentage of what students owe, and about making payments manageable. There’s also a student line of credit – RBC has one that a few of my friends have used, but I’m not certain of the details.

I found this and I’m filling out information now. Thanks!

Do you know what school you’ll be attending? I had full time teaching assistantships for two full years when I was getting my masters. At U.T. as a TA you got a salary/stipend and were eligible to pay in-state tuition rates. I was already paying in state tuition but for someone who wasn’t it would make a pretty big difference. I would think that other universities provide the same benefit. You might look into the availability of TA positions. I was in a Master’s program so the TA positions didn’t become an option for me until the beginning of my second year. If you are a Ph.D. student you, I think, may be able to get a TA position from the beginning.

I sold McDonalds sandwiches in the dorm. I would buy 10–20 cheeseburgers when I went through the drive through, then sell them for a 50% markup when I got back to the dorm. Of course this works better if you live in the dorms.

Are there any head resident positions available in the dorms?

For the love of all things Holy.

Maybe you should sell jerseys or DVDs to fund grad school, @Jude!

Why is this question such a draw for the spammers?!?