<p>Okay, so I have been trying to plan out my future years, which will inevitably involve graduate school. In terms of FA, if I am not mistaken, once you obtain a bachelor's degree and apply for a master's degree, you are considered independent right, even if you are younger than 24? And the finances of your parents would be completely excluded in terms of how much you are expected to pay in order to attend graduate school right?</p>
<p>Also, I know that the Ivies/uber-prestigious schools have great financial aid for undegrads. I was wondering if a student going to graduate school at one of these schools would still receive money that wouldn't have to be repaid if they had a high calculated need? I mean I've been hearing how schools like UPenn, Stanford, Harvard, etc no longer include loans as part of the aid for undegraduates but I have no clue as to whether the same policy applies for graduate students. Thank you.</p>
<p>Support for graduate studies depends on the program. If you are doing a Ph.D. in the sciences, engineering, or many liberal arts fields, chance are you will get a tuition waiver, and a paying position as a teaching or research assistant. If you are in a professional program like Law, Medicine, MBA, M. Ed., M. Eng., etc. chances are you will have to pay every cent of it yourself. Which means colossal loans unless you have an employer that is willing to shell out for it.</p>
<p>My D is going to a professional school in the fall. One of the biggest financial aid surprises was that her top three choices did not all view her as an "independent".</p>
<p>On their financial aid websites, all 3 spoke about their "financial aid philosophy". While Northwestern did view her as an independent, it was clear that Duke and Emory did not. My interpretation of this was that parental assets would be considered in determing FA amounts.</p>
<p>Since she chose Northwestern, I don't really know exactly how the parental contributions might work in the FA scenario. </p>
<p>But I can say we were VERY surprised that all students at this juncture were not viewed as independents, or at least treated the same. Very interesting discovery.</p>