Our kid is getting her decisions coming in for grad school in SLP.
It looks like she is going to have a couple very good choices on the table.
We expect her to be offered a DOE grant from one program, with a post-graduation service component to it, or a Graduate Assistantship.
She is definitely going to be offered a Graduate Assistantship from another program.
Details to follow from both.
Waiting on decisions/offers from two other programs.
Time will fly by, and she will have about a month to decide/commit after getting the offer details.
She is understandably nervous (re: choosing) and has asked for our help understanding the offers.
General questions before we have seen the details:
Are Graduate Assistantships usually offered the second year as well as the first (assuming obligations met & academic standing maintained)?
Are programs usually open and honest about the chances of getting funding for the second year, if she asks about it?
Thanks in advance. This is all new to us.
MA/MS or PhD? Much different questions (and funding).
First question: It varies a lot by the program. Some programs will guarantee the funding for two years as long as the student hits a minimum GPA (which is usually quite achievable). Some programs will require a student to qualify for the second year by doing something specific, like passing an exam or submitting a paper. Some programs only award funding for one year and make students compete for the second year.
Definitely ask the program what the student needs to do to hold onto the funding for the second year.
Most programs are pretty honest about the chances of getting funding for the second year, although their optimism may fuzzy the issue a bit. At least, most programs will tell you if the funding is guaranteed or not.
For the programs in which the second year is not guaranteed, you might get a range of answers - and that, too, depends on who you talk to. Some might hedge a little bit (“Well-prepared students who perform well have good chances of getting funding for a second year” - that tells you basically nothing); some will simply restate the process for getting funding for the second year. Some will just lay it out plainly.
The best people to ask about this? The students. I mean, you should ask professors and program staff too, but ask the students. Graduate students know more about each others’ funding than you might expect, and they can give you a rough idea of how many of their colleagues got funding for the second year. (I always recommend asking verbally, like over a video call, so the student doesn’t have to put anything in writing.)
@juillet
Thank you! Good tip about asking students.