<p>I am a junior in college and a psychology/spanish major. I am learning quickly that Masters programs are not funded well at all and PhD programs can vary widely.
I am being guided by my professors to consider PhD programs in school psychology or counseling because of my grades and other factors and I will probably spend less overall. I had to take out the full stafford loans (unsubsidized mostly) and can't add too much more to it. </p>
<p>I am researching the APA and other sites for possible scholarships, but are MA applicants usually without funding in social sciences? The only people I know with Master's degrees either got them free, in a sense through education/teaching programs, business degrees paid for by companies (my cousin is doing this now with a large financial company) or they worked part time for years as older, married adults and got a degree in 5 years or so. I know some fellow students that are going to finance it but the numbers in and possible pay in the future is only workable to me if you live extremely frugally or finance past 10 years. </p>
<p>Any thoughts from other students thinking of grad school and your plans?</p>
<p>Generally speaking, PhD programs are more likely to be fully funded than are Master’s programs. But certain doctoral programs in the social sciences aren’t all that well funded either. A program that results in a master’s degree midway through is a good option. If your individual money runs out (as mine did), or if you realize that you don’t want a PhD after all (like many of my friends did), you still end up with your MS or MA paid for.</p>
<p>For some more ideas, you may want to take this question to the Grad school forum. Click on Discussion Home in the upper left of this screen, and then scroll down.</p>
<p>Some schools are denying masters even were all course work is completed if student was registerd for Phd, received finaid on that basis, but then failed to complete. I personally think that is despicable. If you did the work for a masters, you should get the degree.</p>
<p>I heard that too. At Yale (I live nearby) a woman did that and they still talk about her though, 5 years later! They don’t feel it’s right to deliberately say you want a PhD just to get the money and then leave after your masters. I can see that, but sometimes it’s just a change of plans you hadn’t figured on.</p>
<p>If possible, you should look for an M.S./Ph.D. program, not just a direct Ph.D. program. That way if your advisor’s grant money vanishes (as happened in my case) you don’t walk away empty handed. Read the college/university catalogue VERY VERY carefully. Make certain that there is a good option for you in case your life takes a different direction.</p>
<p>And as to leaving with an MS or MA when the department admitted you directly to the Ph.D., there was a long thread about this in the grad forum last year.</p>