How far in advance do you plan? Do you start to think about planning before you plan? How do you make a plan when everything is still speculative?

C is about 1.5 years from graduating with his BA/BS. His plan is to apply to a graduate program in pure mathematics. Our local land grant university is in the top 30 of PhD math programs in the country. So while that would be C’s first choice, they get 400 applications every year and accept about 20 people. In addition to that, there appears to be some bias against the university where C is getting his degree- since it doesn’t do traditional grades and all. I believe the comment he got from the math department at UW was “We’re a competitive program”.

Now, it’s going to be a year, give or take a couple of months, before C starts applying to graduate programs, but it is something we’re already talking about. Why? Because this is his dream, but following it could have a major impact on our family.

We’re looking at the following options:

1)      Be done with school once he gets his BA/BS. He can teach math at a private school with just the Bachelors and not even need a teaching certificate.

2)      Look at getting a Masters degree from one of the local private universities. They don’t have PhD programs, but if he were to get an MS from one of them, that might then get him into the PhD program at UW, or he could just be happy with a Masters.

3)      Apply for programs at several different universities, and then, if he gets accepted to one or more, have me start looking for jobs in that area. Our preference would be to remain on the west coast, but could have us moving to Canada or California.

 

Options one and two require C to adjust his dream. It’s something he’s willing to talk about and seriously consider for the sake of our family. A lot will be dependent on where we are in the adoption process. He accepts that as a limiter on his options, at least until everything is finalized.

But he would probably really enjoy teaching middle school math. (I don’t understand it either, but it’s an age he really likes and relates to.) And, in fact, we had a conversation just the other day about how he would want to run his classroom.

The Masters route may actually be the least likely of all. Private schools are expensive, and it’s less likely he’d get a really good graduate stipend. Some schools, like UW, seem to prefer people who enter right after getting their BS and go on a PhD track. Other schools assume you’ll get your MS before getting your PhD, and will possibly switch schools between programs. (University of British Columbia and the UC schools seem to feel that way.)

The third option is the most risky for us as a family. If we did go that route, once C started getting acceptance letters, I would start looking for jobs in those markets. With any luck, I could get a good job offer (or have really good prospects in an area) before he has to say yes. There’s also the possibility that he might accept a school’s offer but see if he can put off his attendance for a year in order to make it possible for us to make a smoother transition.

 

No matter what, this decision will have a financial impact on our family. Our hope would be to keep our house here and rent it out if we end up moving. Maybe we would buy property where we moved to, maybe not. We love the Pacific Northwest and would definitely prefer to stay in this area, or return to it if we have to leave.

Or maybe we will need to take out student loans to pay for graduate school, even though that has not been part of the plan up until now.

Or, maybe he will start working, bringing home a paycheck again. Even if he were to work only part time, every bit of that money would be able to go toward retirement or savings goals for things like a new home, or a major trip, or whatever, since my salary pays all of our bills.

 

We have no idea what the next year to two years will bring, and yet, I’m confident that we will be able to make smart decisions about our finances no matter what, since it’s something we are already talking about. We may not be able to make a single solid plan, but we can explore our options and begin to map out the contingencies.