Grad School FA. My daughter is looking at a Masters of Architecture. She wants to go to a good school; (at our state school now and wants to leave). I can’t believe how much it costs in tuition.
so - can you tell me
1)how grad school FA works at meets needs schools?
2)Is a kid considered independent for grad school? does that matter at all?
3)does a kid fill out the FAFSA for grad school? I know there’s no pell or subsidized loans in grad school; what if a kid hasn’t taken those out before. . . can they be offered in grad school? ;
4) anything else we should know as she starts looking at this? thanks!
@HMom16, every school will be different, based on their ability to meet the increased needs of their students & applicants. Some schools will review requests and be able to offer increased funding to meet need. Other schools will review requests but may have little, if any, additional funding to offer. Still other schools may choose not to review requests to adjust income at all. And because schools will want to put together a balanced class, some students will be offered additional funds while others in the same financial situation may not be (enrollment management). Frankly, I think students need to be sure to include schools they can get into and are sure they can afford. That way, if an appeal for consideration of reduced income does not yield the aid the student needs to attend, they will have options.
1)how grad school FA works at meets needs schools? Even though a school may meet need at the undergraduate level, they may not do so at the graduate level. If they do, they will most certainly request parent income information. I am aware of very few schools that promise to meet need for grads (although some may meet need for certain students).
2)Is a kid considered independent for grad school? does that matter at all? All graduate students are automatically independent for financial aid. However, there are schools/programs that request parent income information & use it in determining aid (they expect parents to assist financially).
3)does a kid fill out the FAFSA for grad school? I know there’s no pell or subsidized loans in grad school; what if a kid hasn’t taken those out before. . . can they be offered in grad school? FAFSA is required for federal aid at the graduate level. Grad students can borrow $10,500 unsubsidized loan each year, and they may be eligible for work study (depending on the school). The student can borrow a Graduate PLUS Loan for the difference between all aid and the COA. The FAFSA (and possibly an institutional firm) is required in order to be considered for institutional grants, if offered.
anything else we should know as she starts looking at this? At many (but not all) graduate schools, certain programs offer partial or full funding through assistantships, fellowships, and scholarships. I am aware that there are architecture programs that offer excellent funding. Students typically have to work (teaching, assisting professors, etc), and tuition remission + a stipend is offered. Check The Grad Cafe, google funded MArch programs, and check school websites. Now is the time to be checking into the various programs.
Thanks so much for doing this. Here are my questions:
How do need-blind institutions operate? Especially in terms of dishing out financial aid? Are the admissions decisions truly independent of the FA decisions? If so how are the % of students who receive FA remarkably consistent from year to year? If this truly was independent then there would be large variation in the % of students who were accepted each year who need financial aid – unless of course there was some sort of categorization.
How does financial aid work for transfer students? Is it true that there are fewer dollars available for transfers?
Could you explain how discounting works? Especially for students who don’t apply for FA, but then receive some type of mysterious “merit” scholarship? Is this done to entice students who can pay? Is there any type of modeling done to predict how much a certain student can pay vs how willing they are to attend?
We found a lot of research was needed to find funded grad programs. In my kid’s field the strategy used in the end was to apply to a doctoral program that included a master’s, and there was funding through TA’ing and other positions. Terminal master’s programs are sometimes referred to as “cash cows” to fund the doctoral programs. But there are schools out there, it just takes looking hard. I don’t know much about architecture but in general…
Also my kid looked in Canada (more affordable). UK (master’s often one year), the Netherlands and Germany.
They know from past history that some applicant characteristics correlate with FA need or lack thereof (e.g. legacy correlates to lower FA need). Adjusting the weighting of various characteristics in admissions can be used to target a level of FA need for the entire class, without looking at individual applicants’ FA applications (and outliers will cancel out).
Presumably varies by college. Merit scholarships appear to be generally less common for transfers, but need-based FA may be offered by many colleges on a similar basis as for those who entered as frosh.
Note that different types of transfers may be treated differently. For example, Columbia University in the City of New York claims to “meet need” (for its definition of “need”) for frosh and most transfers, but says that it does not guarantee to do so for Combined Plan (3+2 program) transfers.
Pretty much all discounts, whether nominally merit based or need based, are meant to increase the yield likelihood of the admitted student, which may be based on a model of yield likelihood of the student’s profile at various net prices.
@ucbalumnus’s response is correct. Every school has its own enrollment management strategy, and what applies to a “first time in a college” student may not apply to a transfer student.
In my experience, the number of funded graduate programs has increased dramatically in recent years. The MFA is a terminal degree, and funding was hard to come by in the past. It’s easier to find now, especially at less prestigious schools. Even prestigious schools are more likely to offer at least some financial assistance now than they did in the past. It’s still hard to find in certain majors and in professional degree programs, though.
In terms of who might be offered more money … at some schools, a student the school really wants will be offered more than one they are not so keen on. At other schools, all students are treated the same for aid purposes.
Another thought: Believe what the school tells you. If they say they award based on need only, don’t expect a merit scholarship. If they say they don’t provide institutional grants to transfer students, believe them. If you know you won’t qualify for need based aid, focus on schools with merit and/or schools that are affordable without aid. I can’t believe how many families knew the score before applying, yet they somehow thought they would be the exception. Avoid disappointment!
Actually @WayOutWestMom knows a lot more about funding for medical school than I do. All I really know is that medical school students can take about $40,000 a year in unsubsidized Direct Loans, and additionally can take Grad plus loans for the remainder up to the cost of attendance.
There are a lot of health related professions that don’t guarantee full funding…actually most don’t. And again, the funding received for these grad programs is based on the strength of the student application and the schools desire to have the student as part of their cohort. Aid comes in the form of scholarships, grants, fellowships, assistantships, sometimes work study, and loans. I’m talking about allied health related therapy degrees like speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy.
I agree. I was liaison to the nursing program at a public university. There was no grant aid or scholarships for second degree or grad programs.
At the graduate level, full funding is not exactly free money, anyway. It almost always involves a lot of work on top of the student’s grad classes. I have known many students who chose to take on debt at the graduate level in order to attend the school of their choice and concentrate on their studies.
Keeping debt to a minimum at the undergraduate level allows students to have more flexibility in choosing a graduate or professional program.
@kelsmom, what are the rules for work study and remote learning? When everyone was sent home in the spring, student employees were allowed to work from home no matter where that was. This semester students have to be on campus or located in our state to be eligible to work. Is that a federal rule?
The Department of Education gave schools flexibility last spring around FWS. The department allowed colleges to continue to use federal funds to pay students who had work-study jobs before the pandemic, even if campus closures prevented them from performing their jobs. These were “optional provisions.” I don’t see any guidance indicating that this will continue in the new academic year.
But @austinmshauri, your question is probably about something a bit different … the university’s work rules. I am guessing the school itself does not allow remote work for its employees who are located out of state. While they bent the rules in the spring, they may have decided not to do so going forward. There is no federal work study rule against working off campus or in another state, but a school can make rules for student employees outside of the federal rules.
What’s your sense of how COVID-19 will affect merit scholarships this year? (We are ‘chasing merit’ for D21). I have heard that it could go both ways: on the one hand, schools are running huge deficits this year and will have less $ to give. On the other hand, they absolutely can’t afford to not fill their class, so will do whatever it takes to avoid an empty seat, no?
Thank you, @kelsmom. It was somehow tied to federal rules that were relaxed in the spring, and it was for all student employees (work study and non-work study). You’re correct that they were paid no matter where they lived even if they couldn’t do the job. I don’t think students were told it was allowed in the spring due to a waiver, though, so when they made decisions about whether to return to campus or study remotely this fall I suspect some thought they’d be able to continue to work. But if they’re not living in our state, they can’t work, even if the job can be done remotely.