YikesSchoolAgain

I take offense to your comment on two points. First, nonprofit is not weird. It is a legitimate sector of the economy and an important field to be in. Second, just because I provided one example of my point, that does not mean I only have one example. Your comment was uninformed and dismissive. 

Hi there, I have also been working in the non-profit sector. I agree with ExponentialDecay, being a non-profit employee wouldn't get you special treatments at graduate school. That said, I don't know which specific issue area is your focus, but if your work pertains to human rights, inclusive/sustainable development, democracy etc, you might be able to find grants created to support specific research/advocacy projects and/or individual researchers. Maybe you can combine what you are gonna study during your Master's program with your current nonprofit work, and try applying for this kind of grants? You mentioned that you work for a nonprofit under a big national brand, so maybe you'd want to talk with your colleagues who do outreach work and have more connections for information about this kind of outside funding opportunities.  In short, there might be more funding opportunities for you from the non-profit sector than from graduate school/academia. 
Just my two cents.

Thanks for the advice. 
Already had a meeting with both the academic director and financial aid. That didn't produce anything helpful. I'm already getting a $40,000 scholarship, so the university is not going to give me any more money. I might earn more through awards as I perform well, but that can't be predicted or counted on.
There's not a nonprofit subtopic, else I would post there. 
I'm not willing to delay a year, as it throws off a lot of things in my personal life. And, Vanderbilt has always been a dream of mine, so I get just as much personal satisfaction out of going there as I do professionally. I started at community college and have been working my way up the ranks to finally attend an institution such as that. I had offers from other schools, but once Vanderbilt said yes, my decision was certain. I'm not willing to go anywhere else, so I am okay with the price tag. Just trying to figure out how to mitigate debt as much as possible. 
My car terms are fine at 2.9% interest. I'd be better off keeping that loan and paying extra cash towards school loan interest since that'll be at least 6.5%.
I'm up for salary review in August and will push for a 7% increase based off my performance this year.  
I know half a dozen people who went through this program and are doing very well in their careers. I've done 2 dozen coffee meetings with folks associated with this school and its programs to make certain I was choosing the right degree for what I want to do. I could have gone for the MBA through Vanderbilt Owen. But for nonprofit work, this Leadership and Organizational Performance degree will serve me much better - both in terms of cost and in academic focus. 
I have access to payroll info at my current company and know I can expect a $25K/year increase 2 years from now when I have my Master's and my supervisor retires. They're grooming me for his role, so if I decide to stay here then I can expect enough increase in salary to justify this degree in the first year alone. Many of the director level folks have Master's at my company, not to mention my own peers, who I must remain competitive with. 
I will heed your advice on the loan forgiveness. Will not count on that. 
Another thought occured to me - I have equity in my home. I might be able to pull that out to pay for school. When I sell the house in two years (part of the master plan, mind you), I can pay all of it off and be done with it. Since my home appreciates at 4%/year, I know the equity will be better put to use paying down higher interest student loan debt. 

I take offense to your comment on two points. First, nonprofit is not weird. It is a legitimate sector of the economy and an important field to be in. Second, just because I provided one example of my point, that does not mean I only have one example. Your comment was uninformed and dismissive. 

I take offense to your comment on two points. First, nonprofit is not weird. It is a legitimate sector of the economy and an important field to be in. Second, just because I provided one example of my point, that does not mean I only have one example. Your comment was uninformed and dismissive. 

If you haven't done so already, I would actually talk to the nonprofit you work for and see if they have any thoughts. Also, take a look at the CVs of people in the kinds of positions you're interested in and see if they list any funding sources or scholarships. Finally, if you are part of any professional organizations, they may have fellowships or scholarships available.

To E-P's point, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/your-money/paying-for-college/student-loan-payments.html