Hi all - my niece has applied to a several programs for an M.S. in marine biology. Originally, she had stated that she would only attend if there was some stipend/fellowship money to help with the costs. Currently, she has only been admitted to a program with zero funding which will cost about 60-70k which she will need to pay with loans.
My sister-in-law is concerned that this school (small private in Ft. Lauderdale) is just happy to take her money and may not be the best choice. Admittedly, I know nothing about graduate programs in the sciences but assume that a small, little-known school can offer a good program in her specific field of study? Also, it may be possible that her field of study is so specific that the “name” of the school is not a factor as her options are limited anyway. Or is it a red flag that do not offer any type of funding/fellowhips/stipends?
What does your niece want to do with this MS? What are the normal salaries like in her field? Is that $60-70K per YEAR or total? And does that include living expenses? What does she know about the reputation of the field?
In some fields it is more common to offer funding for MS programs than others. In my field (psychology), no funding for a master’s is not a red flag. In other fields (maybe engineering? many STEM fields) it is. If your niece doesn’t know, she should ask some professors in her biology department.
Does your niece already have debt from undergrad? If this program will cost $60-70K per year - aka $120-140K total - I definitely would not borrow that, because I doubt that all but the top 5% of marine biologists are making the kind of money that allow them to repay that debt. If the total program cost is around $60-70K (and that’s including living expenses), then whether or not I borrowed it would depend on salaries in the field she intends to enter, plus undergrad debt. I think $60-70K is the upper limit of a reasonable amount of money to borrow for an academic MA, since even MAs in relatively low-paying academic fields can expect to average about $50-60K per year. But if she has any undergraduate debt to repay, it makes it less feasible.
Marine biology is pretty specific but not so specific that name doesn’t matter. It’s just that “name” may be different than it would be for an undergrad school. For example, for undergrad Yale may be better than UIUC, but for aerospace engineering PhDs it may be the opposite. In this case, this little-known Florida school may have an excellent MS program in marine biology. But your niece needs to KNOW that before she puts down $60K+ at this place. So the way to find out is to ask her professors in her home department what they know about this program, and if they know nothing, to ask them to ask some marine biology colleagues what they know about it.
That said, the place could be a powerhouse and I still wouldn’t borrow $120K to go there because that’s not a realistic amount of money to repay.
If I were your niece, I’d be extremely skeptical but open-minded.