<p>I'm the single dad of a 3 year old girl. Currently in the military, separating in about 2 years because of my family circumstances. Because of my life as a military officer and single dad, it's unrealistic for me to go to a "normal school" program for grad school. Right now I'm looking at either Penn State's online MBA or NYU's MS in Management and Systems. I know I won't have trouble being accepted to either.</p>
<p>But next enters the evil little "financing your education" bug. Anyone been through something similar? I'm having a horrible time finding scholarships and grants for a part-timer. And when you're shelling out 3 grand per class, you're sheltering a bigger financial burden than many full time students.</p>
<p>If anyone has any advice at all, it would be greatly appreciated. The midget and I appreciate it =)</p>
<p>I was going to ask you about the GI Bill and National Guard scholarships, but then I realized you are an officer going for Master's degree. Unfortunately not many military scholarships are available for master's degree programs. Could you possibly do some kind of fellowship thing?</p>
<p>Words from a current NYU grad student, unless you are a full time PhD student (where you get 9 credits of tuition remission in return for working 20/hrs a week as a grad assistant) very little if any money is coming with the exception of loans. </p>
<p>I recieved a $7500/year scholarship (I already hold a Masters from NYU and completed my program with 3.92 gpa) on the provision that I take 12 credits/semester (tuition for 12 credits $12,974 not including the cost of books). The scholarship covers 1 class per term. I will get some tuition remission from my employer, so it will not be so painful. I do not know anyone who is currently attending part time and has recieved scholarship money from NYU.</p>
<p>As you know, tuition at NYU varies by school with Stern being one of the more expensive ($1250/credit). Is there the possibility of getting any type of tuition remission from the military?</p>
<p>That's the same information I'm getting from the financial aid people at NYU.</p>
<p>I'd love to go full time, but that's not feasible right now for a variety of reasons I'm sure you can imagine.</p>
<p>I can get some tuition assistance from the military (it would work out to 750/class), and I do have the GI Bill which would cover at the half time rate for 6 semester hours (500 or so per month, times 4 semester months). That would still leave over 4,000 per semester, though. That's quite a chunk of change for a single dad. Additionally, the tuition assistance (750/class) would incur an additional service obligation, which is not something that's worth a few hundred dollars in my family situation. So, that leaves me footing quite a bit of the bill myself - tuition for 6 hours, minus about 2,000, every semester, for 42 semester hours.</p>
<p>It's interesting that the NYU financial aid web page makes the statement that cost should not be a factor in determining which school to attend. Clearly, it does become a factor when the school has such significant costs associated without any need or merit based scholarships for the part-timers.</p>
<p>It's going to be a tough decision, but that's a lot of money for a single dad.</p>
<p>I understand how you feel as I am a single parent who is paying for a Daughter to attend college (every one has a tale of woe).</p>
<p>But depending on what you are planning to do, I think that you have to look at taking a student loan as an investment in you especially if it will increase your marketability and earning potential once you get into civilian life). You can opt to repay your student loan over the couse of anywhere from 10 to 30 years. So look at it like this, when you think about it, you will spend more for things that have less of a payoff over time.</p>