Layoffs Drive 3 in 4 Young Professionals To Grad School — How To Fund

When economic times are rocky, people tend to hit the books. A September 2025 questionnaire from Aurora University found that 3 in 4 young professionals said that layoffs are influencing their decision to go to graduate school. The idea is that stacking up on credentials will help them stay competitive in a job market where over 1.17 million jobs were cut in 2025.

Plus, many other workers are considering graduate school due to economic uncertainty (37%), limited career advancement in their current role (35%) and a desire to future-proof their career (34%), per Aurora University.

If going back to school is on your resolution list this year, your first job is figuring out how you’ll foot the bill. Higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz suggests leaning on scholarships and grants, your employer and student loans. Here’s more on financially preparing to pursue more education in 2026.

Free funding, like scholarships and grants, don’t need to be paid back, so focusing on this type of funding lets you reduce the likelihood that you’ll need student loan debt to pay for school. In some cases, you may only need to take on minimal student loan debt depending on your program cost and how much free funding you can secure.

“You can search for scholarships on free websites like Fastweb.com and the College Board’s Big Future, the most popular free scholarship matching websites,” Kantrowitz says.

If you plan on going back to school part-time while keeping your job, scholarships and grants may be tougher to come by. As someone who has personally done the scholarship search for part-time graduate programs, I have found that many scholarships and grants are geared toward full-time students. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t apply, but do manage your expectations in this department. Try seeking institutional aid directly from the university.

If you’re someone who will stay employed while you do school part-time, you may be able to get your employer to cover all or part of your tuition. Depending on the industry you work in, if you’re pursuing a degree that can get you promoted within your team or industry, your employer may cover the full cost of tuition as long as you promise to stay at the company for a certain number of additional years after tuition is paid.

“Your employer might provide employer tuition assistance, usually in exchange for a commitment to work for them for a year for each year of support,” Kantrowitz says.

Other employers and industries may simply reimburse a small amount of your tuition. Speak to your benefits provider or HR department to learn what specific education assistance benefits exist at your company.

If you still need to apply for student loans, make sure you go in with a plan for how much you’ll borrow and how you’ll pay it back.

“First of all, aim to have total student loan debt at graduation that is less than your annual salary,” Kantrowitz says. “If your balance is less than the income you expect to earn when you graduate, then you should be able to repay your debt in 10 years or less, otherwise you need an extended repayment plan or income-driven repayment plan.”

This means you’ll have to do your research on program costs, expected salary, and figure out how much you can reasonably pay on your own. This helps you figure out how much you might need to borrow — and whether borrowing is worth the burden.

If you do decide to apply for a loan, consider federal student aid first by filling out the FAFSA application. But if you need more aid than what you can get federally, consider applying for a private student loan. If you’ve been out of school and working for a while, chances are you may have solid credit and can qualify for good terms on a private student loan on your own.

College Ave lets you borrow up to the cost of attendance and even offers borrower protections like deferment, forbearance and grace periods. Similarly, Ascent offers these same protections and loan amounts of up to $400,000 for graduate programs.

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