OK so that's a bit of a wide net I'm casting, but to be honest I'm looking at my post-grad options and I have no idea where to start.
I haven't applied to grad school next year purely for financial reasons, but I'm still really interested in historical research and academia. Is it possible to do research at a university if I'm not enrolled in its grad program? Would I be able to get a job in history anywhere else with only a Bachelor's? Or should I just bite the bullet and take out a couple student loans for my Master's/PhD (which, by the way, I don't entirely understand. Do I need a Master's before I can apply for a PhD? Are there PhD programs which include paths to a Master's?)
I feel dumb asking questions like this, but I'm only a few months away from graduating and my future just looks... gray and hazy. All I really want to do is go into academia and write and study for the rest of my life, but I don't know if a life like that is possible anymore, if it really ever existed at all.
Personally, I took time off after my BA and my MA. Taking time off will help get you ready for the soul crushing amount of reading and work that graduate school involves. Going straight from the BA to MA or PhD can really leave you feeling like the whole business is never ending and very pointless- the break will help you focus and actually want to come back to school and engage in the volume of work that stands before you. Or, at least, that's how it worked in my case.
It can also help you save up some money, especially if you can control spending and put away/invest some money.
While taking time off, I would totally advise to check into taking a class part time or doing language training at a local CC or some other venue. A professor I loved let me sit in on her Medieval Welsh class during one of my semesters off- totally pointless for my study- but a fascinating class that I was glad to sit in on.
As to the academic pathway- some programs do go straight to PhD (which at least at my university grants you the MA as well if you fill out some extra paper work), though getting accepted to do that seems like common now than getting a MA at one program and then using your thesis and committee recommendations to get into a PhD program elsewhere. Most of my the cohort I had in graduate school went this route, with a few like myself having received MA's in totally different subjects than history but transitioning into a History PhD program.
Don't feel down. I was in that exact same position almost exactly 7 years ago.
There is no correct path- we all make our own. Don't be afraid of loans when necessary- but definitely search for programs or universities that offer some funding for their students.
Is it possible to do research at a university if I'm not enrolled in its grad program?
No. I mean, sure, you can do it in your free time after work but it's really hard. If you want to do serious, in-depth research at the graduate level, that's really a full-time job.
Would I be able to get a job in history anywhere else with only a Bachelor's? Or should I just bite the bullet and take out a couple student loans for my Master's/PhD
You have to decide by yourself what you want to do for the rest of your life. That's why bluepenguin suggested taking time off after college to figure this out. Because when you start graduate school, you better go all in. You need to make it your whole life because the stakes are so high.
Don't take out loans. Well, for Masters that might be unavoidable, but take only the minimal amount. Never, ever, ever go to a PhD program that doesn't offer full-funding package for at least five years. Never, ever, ever take out loans for the PhD.
If you need to work on language(s) (for the Middle East, I'm assuming Arabic, French, and/or Turkish/Farsi?), then you might have to start with a terminal MA program. If you've got at least one of those languages down, then just apply directly to the PhD program and see what happens.