<p>My long-term boyfriend is going to be attending my university in the fall to pursue his masters in Entertainment Technology. He wants to go into game design and entertainment media, and the ETC at my university has a good reputation for placing grads in high-ranking, high-paying positions (Electronic Arts, Dreamworks, Sony, etc.) </p>
<p>Here's the problem: he's kinda dirt poor. He will be ending his job with his company in about three weeks after working for them for one year as a technical animator on a 50k salary. He has about 12k saved in the bank right now. He has some loans he needs to pay off from undergrad still, although they're somewhat diminished because of his job.</p>
<p>He is going to need to borrow significant money for grad school, about 30-40k a year probably. He will be working during the year and the summers. His parents are entirely unable to assist financially. Are there any recourses available to him in terms of grants, financial aid, etc (NOT high interest loans) that would help him ease the pain of debt a little? He is already probably going to be taking out some subsidized Stafford and Perkins and finish whatever's left over on a PLUS grad loan. </p>
<p>We're both kinda starving students at this point, but my family is well off enough that I will have almost no debt, whereas he's digging a big hole. I'm just worried about him. Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Financial aid for graduate students is VERY different than financial aid for undergrads. First of all…most grad students are considered independent students. But that’s not the biggest difference. Aid for grad school is largely merit based and comes in the form of grants, assistantships, scholarships, fellowships, work study (at some schools), and Stafford loans. There are no Pell grants or the like for grad students (no the federal level…I don’t know what states have to offer).</p>
<p>Your boyfriend needs to discuss his schooling with the department and find out IF they have any aid for grad students in his department. And he needs to find out how to apply. If he is beginning school in fall 2010, he has likely missed the financial assistance “boat” for the upcoming school year for grad school.</p>
<p>He completed the FAFSA on time and is awaiting award info from the school, but his department does not offer any kind of grants or scholarships, only work study, loans, and more loans. Are there any good sources of external federal grants for grad students, similar to the Pell grant?</p>
<p>Did he already quit his job? If not, I would suggest he plan to work 1 or 2 more years and live like an even MORE starving student budget to pay off more college debt and save up for grad school. Sell the car. Move to an even worse apartment and take on more roommates. Get a weekend Starbucks or cleaning job (my sister made $700/month under the table from a side job cleaning houses and this was after putting in her 8 hour “day” job).</p>
<p>He’s young and ambitious - if the financial aid doesn’t work out this year (grants and etc) then I suggest doing the Plan A I described above. There are families of 4 or 5 or 6 that live off of 50K a year! Clearly your boyfriend is not starving “enough” yet.</p>
<p>Federally funded need based aid is for undergrads. The Pell is not available for grad school so far as I know…plus a grad school applicant who earned $50,000 in income wouldn’t be eligible for it (if it had the same criteria as for an undergrad). $50,000 for one year (was that earned in 2009?) is a decent income for one person.</p>
<p>The Pell grant is not available for grads, but I was hoping there might be some grant system for grads, merit based perhaps?</p>
<p>We talked about him spending a second year at his job. He’s working in fort worth, Texas and is a huge liberal himself, and so he had a tough time making friends. His job was 11 hours a day of straight work/commute so he hardly had time for anything else and was severely depressed being away from his home, which is in Pittsburgh. He doesn’t think he could do it again.</p>
<p>From post #2. Aid for grad school is almost all merit based. And it is awarded by the schools. The federal government does not award merit aid as a rule. There are some very merit awards that are funded through government grants to the universities…but that is not aid directly awarded to the students from the government.</p>
<p>If his department has no merit aid for grad students, he will have to take out loans for his grad school program. I agree with others…he may want to reconsider this. Is there a way he could work and attend grad school part time?</p>
<p>And if he’s planning to start grad school this fall, he has likely missed the opportunity to apply for aid for this year even IF aid were available…except for loans.</p>
<p>Re: his job…perhaps he should try to find a job in a location other than Texas.</p>
<p>@thumper: His department doesn’t do merit aid, like you said, and he applied on time for the aid deadline for grad students at my university. His letter is forthcoming this week but he’s expecting mostly/all loans. I guess I was hoping that there might be alternatives but it doesn’t seem that way. </p>
<p>The program requires full time attendance, so part time attendance + work is not possible. They’re kind of annoying about it and also “heavily recommend” that you not work while enrolled. Which I think is complete BS - I’m a double major + minor student and I’m having no problem holding down a campus job for 5-10 hours a week, so as a grad student in game design of all things it should be pretty possible for him to do it. That’s what we’re kinda planning on right now.</p>
<p>Getting a job nearby is also a definite possibility if he can find something that pays decently and is close to me + his home + his beloved city. It’s just that he hates Texas I think and was really lonely. Everyone he knows is up here in the north.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice and information everyone else It is truly much appreciated.</p>
<p>Just about anyone who faces the culture shock of a transition between two places as different as where your fellow is from and where he lives now is miserable. Especially for the first year. However, if they can make it for 12 months, they usually start to feel a bit more at home in the new environment and the next year goes more smoothly. The odds are in favor of his second year being less miserable, so if he needs money (and it looks like he does) he might consider sticking it out a bit longer. If he’s the kind of guy who’d actually read it, get him a copy of “The Art of Crossing Cultures” by Craig Storti. It’s the best book I know of on the topic, and offers very specific techniques to help cope with a strange new society.</p>
<p>He needs to work part-time while he is in school, and I don’t mean 5-10 hours per week, I mean 20 hours per week. Even if his department requires students to be fulltime that still leaves extra time that can be filled in with a job. How are his fellow classmates paying for their schooling?</p>
<p>When I was in graduate school none of us had financial support from our parents. The department knew that so they went out of their way to secure funding for us, I know this is a different department but I can’t believe that a department would just turn a blind eye to the fact that their graduate students are probably financially independent.</p>
It is truly much appreciated.</p>