If you are 21+ and not working but going directly from undergrad to grad school then do they look at your family’s finances or just consider you broke? Most parents stop supporting kids after 21 or undergrad anyway so what are the options for those students if they don’t get scholarships to schools they want to attend? Why some grad students have to take loans and others get aid? They are all in the same boat after undergrad.
When you are working on a masters, post bachelors, you are usually considered independent for financial aid purposes and your parent information isn’t included.
Some medical and law schools require your parent financials.
BUT…grad school financial aid is largely based on merit…the strength of your application and the school’s desire to have you as part of the class cohort in your program. Aid comes in the form of grants, scholarships, assistantships, stipends, tuition remissions, and LOANS.
Some types of grad programs are more likely to provide funding than others.
What are you planning to do?
Not me. My step daughter would go for Masters in International Studies, aiming for Georgetown and Johns Hopkins. It would be tough enough to get in, getting scholarships would require a miracle so counting on aid and part time work.
Plan to be full pay, and if she gets accepted…and applies for aid, maybe she will get some funding.
Agreed. No point in counting eggs before acquiring the hen.
We recently went through this for my oldest S. He was admitted into UCSD for the fall for his masters. He is 22, no job, & still a dependent (student athlete so can’t work).
He submitted a fafsa & it was purely based on his lack of income & not based on family income. He is no longer eligible for federal/state grants like Pell or Cal Grant. It did appear he was eligible for loans, however he can most likely get a great rate through his bank now.
On looking at the schools financial aid page he may be eligible for some research grants but as a first year grad student I think not knowing the specific research may be tough.
Is it easier to get scholarships at lower ranking schools and programs or similar as competitive programs? I’m not talking about fully funded programs.
The answer is…it depends. Some schools do not have funding for grad positions in certain fields. They just don’t.
I’m not familiar with international studies.
Is your student a college senior? Maybe discuss this with her department advisor. Sometimes they know which schools have grad funding in the field.
She is a junior. We don’t know if she’ll have high enough GPA or GRE for those schools but this is what she is hoping for. They get admission advising in senior year.
does her program require the GRE?
Good that you are researching this NOW because frankly, getting advised at the start of senior year is a bit on the late side.
It’s holistic but most accepted students come with high GPA, GRE, elite internships, work experience, foreign language skills, extracurriculars, economics courses and international exposure. It is competitive in general but more so for fresh undergrads. Only 10% fresh grads make the cut so basically Ivy level acceptance rate.
There are other schools offering it but in this field prestige of the program and location of the school carries a lot of weight.
We’re right in the middle of this right now so i have concrete 2019 stats here… @Riversider my kid (graduating this May) is pursuing a grad degree in diplomacy/foreign service.
She applied to 6 colleges, got into 6. As of now, the merit aid (this is per year, so X2 the amount):
Georgie Washington Elliott School - $15,000 a year (so $30,000 for the degree)
American University SIS - No word on merit yet, might hear today
Tuft’s Fletcher - only $5000 a year (but notes that she can apply for TA/RA)
Denver Korbel - $25,000 a year
Pitt GSPIA - $27,000 a year
Johns Hopkins SAIS - Accepted. Hears about merit aid today.
Spend some time on the respective school’s websites. For example, Hopkins’ SAIS greatly prefers work experience (and that work experience had better include some overseas work)…Other top IR programs (and all professional schools, for that matter) have similar work experience preferences. That’s not saying an undergrad star won’t get in, but the odds are a lot lower.
Congratulations @SouthernHope This is amazing. Did she apply to Georgetown? Let us know if SAIS or Georgetown offer any merit money.