<prompt> Human: I have been accepted in a graduate program that I would like to attend. It has a great track record of placing graduates in tenure track positions, and its a top ten program. I really want to attend, but I have to make sure its right for my family. My stipend will pay 26kyear and will cover family health insurance and dental. It also offers a small subsidy for child care. My wife teaches preschool and has typically brought in around 25kyear. She will need to get a job and there is always the possibility that she wont get one right away. We own a house that we rent to tenants. Zillow estimates that I could get 185k for the house and I owe 160k. My tenants are interested in buying it, so I should be able to avoid realtor fees but will have to pay taxes and cover some other things to get the sale done. I want to estimate conservatively and say I could have 15k in equity from selling the house. I have 5k in an emergency fund, and I have zero debt other than the house that I rent out. The rent I am looking at is extremely high. I have a wife and a kid and a dog, and its important that our family comes first. As I use an office for many things including some side income opportunities, I am looking at getting a 3 bedroom house in a safe area that takes pets. That pushes rent up to at least 1800, and most of the houses Ive found are around 2000month. I have found though that about 15-20 minutes outside of the city are houses for sale around 165k-175k. These areas for some reason have very few houses for rent and just about all them available do not accept pets. I could put down a nice down payment and save up to 1000month by buying. Of course there are maintenance costs to consider, and I know this having owned a house for almost ten years. But 1000month is a lot of money to save by buying. I fear finishing my PhD and being unable to sell. I currently live twenty minutes from my rental property. I plan on living far, far away from this school when Im done. Any suggestions on this idea?  <response>: Honestly I think either buying a home for 180k or renting for 1800 is too much unless you know your wife will be making substantially more.I know its not exactly what you want, but 2 bedrooms makes a lot more sense financially. Studying in the library at your grad building is a great way to learn and network anyway. 