<p>If I'm considering going to graduate school in history/philosophy/education or going to law school. I've been accepted to Yale EA, which will cost $20k a year, which will basically wipe out my parents after four years. (They make $75k a year and have $120k in stocks). Let's assume I go to Yale, what kind of need-based scholarship money could I get for grad school? Am I screwed for going to a top school? Could anyone tell me about options available? I don't see how people pay for it.</p>
<p>I asume your estimated cost for Yale is after the need based financial aid you will get as Yale costs a lot more than $20K a year. Most education grad students become teachers first and do grad school at night and in summer or after accumulating some funds to take some time off to do it. They also may qualify for some grants or low cost loans from their applicable state school authorities or from sources used by the college including the Federal Family Education Loan Program (low and deferred interest rate loans) . Typical for many other grad school programs is that it is difficult to be admitted but, if you are, you often get money to pay all or some of the costs (with conditions like being required to be a TA) with the possibility of also having to take some loans through FFLEP or through other loan programs offered by the college. For professional grad school programs like law or MBA, you are unlikely to get any money except through loan programs, although if you are a top applicant to a less than first tier school, some merit scholarship money may be available.</p>
<p>Often grad students get teaching or research assitantships to pay for grad school. If you get one of these then they cover tuition plus a living stipend. In exchange, you are a teaching assistant or working on research. This kind of arrangement is more prevalent in some areas than in others. For example, if you were to go for a Ph.D in history, it is very likely you would get an assistantship since there is a lot of undergrad teaching and research that needs to be done. They are harder to come by in education. At many schools in specific departments, no one is admitted to grad school without also being awarded at TA or RA. </p>
<p>On the other hand, professional schools such as law school or medical school do not provide these kinds of assistanceships. Students get some financial aid but pay the bulk of their expensed through loans with the understanding that they will earn a high enough income to pay the loans back.</p>
<p>So, basically, more than likely, if I choose to go for a PhD, money will be made available to pay for it?</p>
<p>If you are admitted into a Ph.D. program in many disciplines you usually get a tuition waiver and a teaching or research assistantship. The assistantships may not cover your full expenses and often grad students have to take out loans, work a parttime job or receive financial assistance from parents. In english, philosophy and education the odds are that you are looking at being a college professor. which means that you will not be making much money to start so you need to take that into account into your long range planning. A degree from Yale will likely help getting into the graduate school of your choice (providing you do well) so you may be able to choose among better financial deals. As noted in other posts, professional school is pretty much a loan only situation. Since you are so early in this process its hard to make decisions about graduate school choices when you may change interests/majors over the next four years.</p>
<p>How much, would you say, on average, do students attending top graduate schools have to borrow from parents? Meaning, what is the gap between what grad students usually receive in aid at Ivy-type schools and what their expenses are? Are parents financial situations take into account concerning need-based aid, like with undergrad?</p>
<p>Most people I know pay for their own grad schools taking out loans, working, teaching, and getting stipends and fellowships. Depending on the program, you can get any combination of forementioned. PHD candidates often get some sort of package. Education is a bit tricky as it is not really a liberal arts discipline. Alot of education grad students are part time and get the credits paid for from their jobs.</p>
<p>Okay, a few questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>What is the admit rate to top graduate schools? Assuming I do relatively well at Yale, should I have any trouble getting in a top 15 grad school or is it the luck of the draw? What does it take to get in?</li>
<li>Is it true that at these graduate schools, tuition is free and students receive a large living stipend?</li>
<li>Do most students receive this kind of aid grad schools? If so, what's the big deal about "financing graduate school?" ... I assume people aren't taking loans and jobs if it's all paid for ... I'm getting conflicting messages, because the Yale grad school website makes it sound like everything is paid for.</li>
</ol>
<p>Admit rate depends upon the school and the course of study. It is really variable so there is no way to answer your question. Nor is there any way to answer the second part of #1 as it depends upon the course of study, school, your academic performance at Yale, GRE's, previous scholarly work, etc. I can say admission is not luck of the draw as it is the combination of the above factors. Tuition is not free at graduate schools. some schools offer tuition waivers for some or all of your graduate training. As noted before, Ph.D. students are more likely to receive these waivers than master's level students. I have never heard that grad students receive large living stipends. I think most would agree that you would need to supplement the stipend with some other source of funds to meet your living expenses. You can get some idea of how much assistantships pay by going to a university website and getting financial aid information about the graduate program.</p>
<p>That's exactly what I did, which is why I'm confused, since it's bascially the opposite of what you say:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.yale.edu/history/gradprogram.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/history/gradprogram.html</a>
<a href="http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/financial/standard.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/financial/standard.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Go to our local libr</p>
<p>so you have 17000 dollars per year and you must take care of all of your expenses--housing, food, transportation, clothing, medical insurance---it goes fast and depending upon your lifestyle, you might need more than that. And this is Yale which might be a bit more generous than some other places.</p>