<p>There isn’t going to be any assistantship money for certificate programs. You will not be eligible for an RA or TA position. Those slots are reserved for degree-seeking students.</p>
<p>Also, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is not really as good as it sounds, MyAdvisorSays. You have to make loan payments for 10 years - and unless you’re low-income, you will have completely paid the loan off at that point. There won’t be anything left to forgive. The only place the PSLFP helps is if you’re in a low-paying job with ridiculous amounts of loans… then you go on income-based repayment and will have something left at the end to forgive. However, this means that if you get a higher-paying job midway through the period, your loan payments will go up accordingly.</p>
<p>(I have studied the PSLFP quite a bit because I’m eligible, as a federal employee.)</p>