Masters and PhD funding

Graduate School
1

<p>Funding for Masters vs PhD </p>

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<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>

2

<p>I got an MS at a small 3rd tier college in the south, and was fully funded. I did research for a professor who had a big grant, and also taught Psych. 101.</p>

<p>I think the opportunities for funding are there, you will just have to do some digging. Depending on which schools you are considering...if I can get funded at a school that only has 2 PhD programs, I'm sure there is money out there for you. </p>

<p>Just find some schools and professors you like, and start doing some research. Email professors you are considering working with, email students already in the program, and find out who has the money and how it's being spent. If nothing else, you should be able to teach or be a TA. </p>

<p>It is just going to take some work for you on the front end, and people skills and detective work.</p>

3

<p>Also, I was totally maxed out on student loans---the government literally said, sorry--we can't let you borrow any more money !</p>