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This is a great question, and a hard one to answer even with this being a major part of my research! Also, a lot of things driving the student loan debt crisis are systemic, which makes it difficult. That said... https://twitter.com/zoexrose/status/1294076860293419008">https://twitter.com/zoexrose/...
1. Ask about assistantship funding, including outside of the program/department. Whether it is available; how to obtain it; start applying now. Ask the program director and also search the university website. If yes, ask if it qualifies you for in-state tuition even if you& #39;re new
2. Ask whether it covers not just tuition, but also fees, and how much those fees tend to run per semester. Ask about whether it includes health insurance, ask for details about that health insurance, and how much it costs you out of pocket. Ask how long you can be funded for.
3. Ask about funding for professional conferences, professional organization membership fees (like @APAGradStudents 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="LĂ€chelndes Gesicht mit geöffnetem Mund" aria-label="Emoji: LĂ€chelndes Gesicht mit geöffnetem Mund">!). Ask about scholarships, fellowships (and search also). Ask about known loan repayment programs in your chosen field and search for loan repayment programs.
4. Ask other students about other costs that come up, as well as funding they may be familiar with. For example, perhaps there is a required or common placement that requires far drives (gas+tolls+maintenance/needing a car)
5. Look up average early career salaries as well as average student loan burdens in your chosen field (student loan averages are hard because the variance is so great, but still helpful to know).
6. Even students who are "fully funded" may wind up with a lot of student loan debt because cost of living (rent, food, transportation, utilities, healthcare) and indirect educational expenses (technology; professional development; etc) account for so much student loan debt.
7. Thus, mitigate these in advance where possible, although if this were easy to do, it wouldn& #39;t be a crisis https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="Auf den Kopf gestelltes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Auf den Kopf gestelltes Gesicht"> (one of my primary issues with the "financial literacy" approach)
8. That said, financial literacy still important. If you need to take out student loans, learn in advance about different loan types, caps (per semester, per year, and total allowable), and if you already have federal student loans, check your balance ( https://nslds.ed.gov/npas/index.htm )...">https://nslds.ed.gov/npas/inde...
... to determine how much more you have left available to borrow. AVOID private student loans if at all possible. If you think you might be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program in your chosen career, ensure that you take out eligible federal loans.
9. Additionally, do not make changes to those loans (e.g., consolidation) without first ensuring that the resulting loans will still be PSLF eligible.
10. While in school, try to find every discount that you can if you are buying something new (e.g., did you know there& #39;s a separate website for Apple Education pricing?), and buy used where possible. http://www.dealoz.com"> http://www.dealoz.com saved my life in grad school when it came to used books.
I& #39;ll keep trying to think of others! I& #39;m not sure what your chosen field is, but there may be some helpful information in our recent articles on this! (e.g., Wilcox et al., 2019; Pietrantonio & Garriott, 2017; Lantz & Davis, 2017). Happy to send if you are interested!
(Oh and excellent GIF choice @zoexrose, a favorite of mine but also, too real https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="Gesicht mit FreudentrĂ€nen" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit FreudentrĂ€nen">)
