The prospect of graduate school is exciting and inspiring, conjuring thoughts of prestigious careers and higher earning capabilities but the thought of paying for that fine education can be sobering.

Statistics show that one year of graduate school costs anywhere from $15,000 for a Master's at a public university to more than $50,000 at a private medical school. Do the math of what it could potentially cost to fund a two-year M.B.A., a three-year J.D., or a four-year M.D.

Seventy-five percent of full-time grad students receive financial aid, usually student loans. The hope is that future earnings will offset the high costs of that expensive education by helping you pay it back quicker.

A slowing economy and unemployment has created an environment in which college graduates believe they will not be able to compete for higher-paying jobs without the additional advantage of a graduate degree. Even working people are going back to school to climb the career ladder. Graduate schools are showing double-digit increases in applicants from previous years.

Here are some options to help you cover your grad school tuition.

Calculate Your College Costs

The most important step in calculating your college costs is to figure out a simple financial plan. Don't worry, you will not need to hire a certified financial planner for this; there are many tools available on the Internet to help you accomplish this with a few, easy steps.

College-planning Web sites, such as http://www.FinAid.org, offer calculators for master’s students as well as doctoral students. For the low-down on what your student-loan costs will be, use this loan-payment calculator. It will estimate your monthly loan payments and compare that to the annual salary required to manage them.

If you have a variety of loans, this tool allows you to manage them in bulk with the loan comparison calculator.

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