What’s going on in this story?

Paulette is a newly enrolled graduate student — a transition that she calls an emotional, financial and geographical one.

When Paulette finished high school, she moved away from home to a four-year university. After graduation, she made a decision that shocked a lot of people. Instead of going to work right away, she decided to travel the world — starting in Asia. With friends, Paulette lived and worked in countries like China and Japan to pay her way. Her travels took a lot of planning ahead, to make sure she could afford things without going into debt.

• See also: Planning a vacation

Paulette calls her path non-traditional and says it’s made her who she is today. Her goal has always been to live her life to the fullest and not rush into things like a career, marriage or a family.

Paulette's goal has always been to live her life to the fullest and not rush into things like a career, marriage or a family.

But after spending a few years overseas, Paulette decided that it was time to return home and start planning her future, starting with the decision to go to graduate school.

• See also: Going to graduate school

In order to pay for grad school, Paulette moved home with her mother, Gemma, who recently retired. A career project manager, Gemma always planned her finances and her life — a trait that Paulette sees as valuable and is starting to learn from.

While Paulette doesn’t plan to live at home for her whole graduate school career, she knows that she needs to start planning ahead for the future — thinking about things like getting a part-time job while in school, saving up for her own place and even saving for retirement. She’s also starting to think about budgeting for life the way she budgeted for her travels.

• See also: Budgeting

Some things she's thinking about, like retirement, are in the distant future — they're not on Paulette’s mind every day. What she does think a lot about is affording school and the amount of student loan debt she’ll be taking on to fund her education. She’s never had debt and is proud of being debt-free — and says she never wants to be in debt, either. But she can’t avoid taking out loans to cover her education.

• See also: Student loans

Though Paulette has some concerns, she believes graduate school is a worthwhile expense — saying that while her 20's were about exploring the world and herself, this new phase of her life is different. She wants to use graduate school to help her on a career path that will give her a stable financial life. She’s tackling her new life head-on—with optimism and a plan.

Going to graduate school?

Here are 10 steps to take when going to graduate school:

1. Understand how graduate degrees relate to your work.
2. Know how much your field pays in salaries.
3. Research program rankings and faculty.
4. Consider a graduate certificate instead of a degree.
5. Calculate the “opportunity cost” of going back to school.
6. See if you can get funding.
7. Tally and compare the total costs of each program you’re considering.
8. Write a budget for the years you are in school.
9. Get health insurance.
10. If you put put pre-tax money in a retirement plan, convert it to a Roth IRA.

Learn more about these steps in our Going to graduate school section.