tony m.

great thread, i have my apprehensions about applying to grad programs at my age, i'm 39. i begin to worry about the financial and time commitment away from my children. the programs i have my hopes set on would take me abroad, but i weigh them heavily because of the opportunity for employment they provide and it's only a 1 year MA program. thanks for letting me vent.

my ex recently got her MSW from CSU, Sacramento. she had a few options, as we looked at them we discovered the actual MSW was more important in this field than where she got it from, as most counties were phasing out lower level non-MSW positions. she was working with a county that allowed her to get her MSW as part of a 3 year program, but ultimately she ended up leaving that county and entering the 2 year MSW program. she was able to get a stipend of 1800.00 a month that was forgivable if she worked for two years in in a county that received title 4E funds. unless you have your heart set on these schools and only these schools, there are little options for getting into this field w/o large amounts of debt. hope this helps.