<p>99% of what I've found so far is for undergrad students and students of a particular race, religion, or to a particular school (none of which I'm attending). Please post any general or MSW grants if you know of any! (master of social work)</p>
<p>bump…any non-loan financial aid for masters degree students?</p>
<p>Not really, unfortunately.</p>
<p>I am also a graduate student. The majority of federal aid that is available for us are loans – Stafford loans. We’re not even eligible for Perkins loans.</p>
<p>Scholarships and grants for graduate study are usually handled by the institution to which you go – if you want nonrepayable aid, 9 times out of 10 you have to get it from your school. There are some scholarships that you can apply for and compete to win money externally, but these are very competitive (one is the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, for example).</p>
<p>From my observation, MSW students pay their own way - either with savings, current income, or loans. You need to investigate the possibility of institutional aid at each of the Social Work schools that you apply to. Some will have a few fellowships floating around, and some might have teaching assistantships for second year students.</p>
<p>Here are a few questions about the dreaded loans:</p>
<p>(1) If the money is sent to the school to pay for the tuition, how does the student get the remainder of the loan money to pay for living expenses?</p>
<p>(2) Do you need to do entrance and exit interviews for graduate stafford loans if you had undergrad stafford loans too?</p>
<p>(3) When can a person apply for Grad Plus loans if needed? Are there any time restrictions for them? If you run out of money later into the school year, can you apply then or does it have to be at the beginning of the year?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Usually when financial aid exceeds tuition and any other billed expenses (dorm) the remainder is refunded either by check or EFT to the student.</p>
<p>The best things you can do as a grad student applicant:</p>
<p>File FAFSA in January, work study $ are first come first served, you could get paid to do that research lab work, but often by the time grad students get around to filing those funds are gone.</p>
<p>Get a TAship</p>
<p>Earn tuition remission.</p>