My family doesn’t have have sufficient money for themselves, much less to give me for my education. I’ve been attending a community college in California since Fall 2013, and I have been accepted into San Francisco State’s Urban Studies and Planning program, to begin Fall of this year. I do not pay for my community college do to a mix of fee waivers and grants, and anticipate I will need federal loans at SFSU. My current job is through federal work study. It is relevant to note that I turn 24 in April of this year.
After I get my BA, I intend to pursue a Masters of Urban Planning or an equivalent degree. I’m looking at UCs now, but I’m not overly picky on where I get my MA do to my financial limitations. What I need is to figure out what my options to pay are. How is the competition for grants? What federal loans can I get for a graduate program? What else is there for financial aid? Are UCs the cheapest option, or is there something cheaper?
When you are 24 and/or a graduate student, you are considered independent for financial aid. That means only your income and assets are used to determine aid.
For undergraduate, this means you may qualify for a Pell Grant. You qualify for student loans at the Independent student maximum of 12,500 each for Jr and Sr year. You may also be awarded work/study. I don’t know what your calgrant status is. If you qualify make sure you do what is needed as this is gift money. You won’t get anything else from SFSU. If you had been able to transfer to UC they do have university grants to give. http://www.calgrants.org/index.cfm?navId=12
For graduate, many students do fund themselves unless they are very lucky and have parents with resources. All you can get federally are loans, up to 20,500 per year and there is an aggregate cap. Here is a table: https://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#how-much
You might check with the grad forum and thegradcafe.com to find programs and funding for MS. Sometimes universities themselves that need grad student TAs/RAs/GAs will hire you and waive tuition, but this is more common with PhD students, MS are often self pay. When you go to SFSU your department may have more information for you on grants for grad school in that field. Keep up with professional associations and govt entities to see if there are any outside grants.
So, from what I can tell, $138,500 is my total federal loan limit for all years in school, including graduate school? I got the Pell maximum both school years for community college, and my financial circumstances remain the same, so I should get it for SFSU as well. If I live on campus (I already applied for campus housing), get work study or otherwise find part time employment, and do my MA at a UC, is that likely to be sufficient? As of now, I have not taken any loans at all. My junior year of undergraduate will be the first time I do so.
You would be insane to borrow the full COA of attending a MS program. That would result in likely 20 years of being a slave to debt. You have to do dxtremely well in your studies and apply to programs where you can get your tuition waived. This means good grades and getting projects, internships and research with any prof who will take you on. Summer too. Then you may get selected for something like this I plucked at random, scroll down to see the section on Graduate Research Assistantships. Search for these at any and all colleges instate and away. http://www.pdx.edu/usp/master-urban-and-regional-planning-murp
Otherwise when you graduate get a job, preferably one that has tuition reimbursement and start working on the MS a couple classes at a time. Or just work a couple of years and save money. Consider that the work will inform your studies.
An MA in urban planning may not be a funded program, so there may not be any “free money” for it. My cousin got her masters in (I think that same) major from UCLA, and she was a fab student and my uncle paid for it. Of course things may have changed, but often masters degrees are not funded…PhDs are often funded, but not masters.
That’s great that you are thinking ahead, but since you haven’t started at the school where you will be receiving your BA, perhaps you should see where that takes you before you start worrying about paying for grad degrees.
Get internships and work experience after graduating before you apply to grad school.
Several MCP programs offer graduate research assistantships to some (not all) incoming MCP students. I know Georgia Tech and UNC-CH do. I suspect others do as well. Then if you work out well in the assistantship and classes, it isn’t that difficult to get another GRA or a teaching assistantship for your second year. For these two schools, the assistantships waived out of state tuition (you have to pay instate tuition) and provide a stipend.
That said, some incoming students are older (30+) with savings. The savings with the assistantship stipend makes for a more comfortable student existence. Nothing luxurious or extravagant but at least you don’t worry about rent, buying books and such.
^^^
How much do those grad assistantships for masters cover?
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Assistantships
About half of Georgia Tech’s graduate students are employed as graduate research or teaching assistants (GRAs and GTAs), including** four out of five doctoral students. **These assistantships provide a modest stipend and lower tuition, and are usually awarded through students' major departments. The minimum stipend level applies whether the student works one-third or one-half time. The minimum stipend for doctoral students is $1,320 per month and the minimum for master’s students is $870 per month. (Exceptions may be approved by the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Faculty Affairs.)
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From those numbers, it looks like these Assistantship positions at GT are really for PhD students.
When you get closer to applying to grad school, you need to investigate aid options at the places on your potential application list. In programs that are only two years long, sometimes there are a few teaching assistant or research assistant positions available for second year students.
You also may have to dig deeper into each program, not just the general graduate school information. There may be more information for specific schools or programs. The School of City Planning at Georgia Tech does offer MCP students funding (although maybe a smaller proportion of master students receive funding, so do well in your undergraduate work)
Grad school funding is largely directed at PhD students for a variety of reasons…one is that they’re there for a longer time and can more likely serve the dept by teaching.
Grad school funding is also largely MERIT based…awarded for high stats…high GRE scores and GPAs. When my older son was applying to PhD programs, the schools all commented on his extremely high GRE scores and perfect GPA…programs want high stats because it boosts their reporting numbers.
Check outside you intended area of study. At D2’s school (state Univ) I saw a number of positions for grad assistants in areas not connected with specific program and they still offered tuition reduction plus stipend (housing, etc.).
Thanks for all the advice, everybody. I’ll definitely pursue internships at SFSU and keep my GPA (currently 3.81) up. Not sure if a PhD program is an option. I haven’t seen any for urban planning. I guess getting a PhD in geography is an option, but I don’t know if that’s really what I need to go into urban planning work. I’ll certainly look at out of state options alongside California. Thanks for that tip.
The idea of looking for grad assistant jobs outside urban planning programs is much appreciated. I study quite a bit of statistics, sociology, and geography, and I’m seriously considering a history or speech minor, so I could look into openings there.