Paying for Graduate School

Not many people have the financial ability to pay for the entire expense of graduate school.

• Some options available to students are:
• Teaching Assistantships
• Research Assistantships
• Fellowships
• Grants 
• Tuition Waivers
• Loans

Teaching Assistantships require you to teach undergraduate courses or labs. Tuition is usually waived and a stipend is often granted. A teaching assistantship is very prestigious but the workload is heavy.

Research Assistantships are linked to a research project conducted by a specific professor. The best way to earn a research assistantship is to learn as much as you can about the research going on in the university.

Fellowships are large awards given to a student with great academic promise. There are two forms of Fellowships:

• Internal Fellowships are given by the graduate program
• External Fellowships are granted from outside sources

Visit www.finaid.org (under scholarships—scroll down to graduate school) or fastweb.com for fellowship information.

Grants are smaller than fellowships, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Grants work exactly the same way as fellowships.

Tuition Waivers are more common for Ph.D. candidates and for candidates in the laboratory sciences. They are less common for master’s degree candidates in the humanities or for professional programs.

Loans. Students use loans to fund the gap between what hasn’t been received through assistantships, fellowships, grants and waivers. Plan on preparing a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and or GAPSFAS (Graduate and Professional School Financial Aid Service). Both are available from any graduate financial aide office. Most of your undergraduate student loans will be deferred while you’re in a full time graduate school program.