<p>I'd love to go to grad school to build on my ugrad major, aerospace engineering, but without saving for years or taking out huge loans, how can I do this? How hard is it to get a decent fellowship, or have a company that wants to hire you pay your way?</p>
<p>I am taking out loans and using my life savings. I see it as, even though I am going into debt, my return on investment will be more than worth it. I hope!</p>
<p>I'll never forget, I was at one of those "big box" bookstores waiting to check out. The woman in front of me knew the cashier. Turns out the cashier had finished her master's, couldn't find a job in her field and had moved back home.</p>
<p>Wow thats so true</p>
<p>well Ph.D programs tend to give much better money than Masters. But then that is six years where you aren't making any money and still have to find a job when you finish. I am paying for my masters mostly with loans, which I will probably be paying for the rest of my life, and that is with the generous financial aid I was given.</p>
<p>bmanbs2 - I can't speak directly to aerospace engineering, but I've been a software engineer for 30 some years and except for a couple very small companies, every place I've worked has had some sort of a tuition reimbursement system. Usually its not 100% and sometimes the amount depends on your grades (i.e. the company pays 80% for an A, 70% for a B, 60% for a C, nothing for D or F). Usually you have to be there a year before you're eligible.</p>
<p>my program will be funded full tuition plus a yearly stipend.</p>
<p>Engineering grad students generally well funded. If you are somewhat competitive with your credentials, you can get research assistantships or teaching assistantships. I think for engineering, on average 80 some percent of all PhD students receive funding, and 55% of masters students receive funding. I personally have a teaching assistantship (ECE).</p>
<p>The company I'm working for now, and at my previous job, they paid 100% of my tuition as long as I had at least a C in an undergrad class or at least a B in a grad class. My current job has a program that will alow you to either work part-time and go to grad school part-time, or go to grad school full-time and just get half your salary as a stipend, as long as you work for them 2 years after completeing your Master's and/or PhD.</p>
<p>Engineering grad students are usually funded with a research or teaching assistantship. These generally include tuitition waivers and then you pay some student fees and make sure you have health insurance. Some state schools will ask you to change your residency so that they aren't responsible for the extra out-of-state tuition. For some schools, tuition is "real" money and at other places, it's not. There are also loads of fellowships out there, and in aerospace engineering you can look for government fellowships. The big one is the NSF GRF which you can get before you even pick which grad school you want. The money is tied to you, not the school.</p>
<p>For aerospace eng., UMCP funds pretty much all their students and they have a top program.</p>
<p>I'm in engineering, but no one I know who has gone to graduate school in any field except for an MBA has had to pay for tuition. You're more likely to get funding for PhD than a Master's though, b/c they are investing in you.</p>
<p>I once had a TA for American Lit. She was in the english PhD program on a teaching fellowship. Free tuition and a stipend. The stipend covered her room and board and she had an on-campus p/t(few hours) job to handle misc. living expenses.</p>
<p>Well, she became ill. So they took away her fellowship. She had to quit the program and they gave her a consolation MA degree when she left. Even though my school doesn't offer an MA in english.</p>
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