Creative financing

If you own a home, you might be able to forgo the Graduate PLUS loan and take out an equity loan to help pay your tuition bill.

The upsides:

• You don't have to pay a 3% loan origination fee - Ouch.
  
• A lower interest rate - in my case I'm saving 3.25%
  
• Home equity loans less than $100K are tax deductible - Sweet.
  

The downsides:

• Reduces available equity in your home
  
• No grace period before you being paying back the loan (although you might be able to get away with paying only the interest while in school)
• Interest is not fixed - Read: it may go higher than the rate of the PLUS loan