How Did You Fund Your Dual Degree? (MPA/JD)

[ILAR]

Hi all,

(I posted this in the law forum as well, so thanks for your patience if you saw this there)

I'm looking into a joint degree program where I would walk away with both a MPA and a JD. Most of the schools I am looking at say the program will take a total of 4 years, with one program saying it will only take 3.5.

 

I am aware that since I'd be in school for a longer period of time, I will accrue more debt than if I elected to pursue just one of these degrees. My question is for people who have or are currently enrolled in a dual degree program (mostly looking at MPA/MPP/JD) about how does your financial aid differ compared to just being enrolled at one school?

 

Many thanks in advance, I appreciate any answers or additional guidance.

[SerenityNow!]

I had a number of friends who did dual degrees and at least at my school dual MPA/JD students essentially did their 1L year in the law school, their second year in the public affairs school, and then years 3 and 4 were a combination of classes but they were essentially "based" in one school or the other each semester.

They were awarded different sets of financial aid from each school, which seemed pretty confusing and I think made it hard for them to plan, especially if they were awarded a lot more money from one school than the other. I think this is because masters programs and law programs are big money makers for universities  and at least at where I went the schools usually keep a big chunk of the money that comes in so they have an incentive to keep the billing separate.

My financial aid/scholarship money was in the same ball pack as my friends with dual degrees, when they were enrolled in the public affairs school, but usually during their law school semesters they were paying substantially more tuition. I'm not sure that is always the case but at least at my university the law school was, going off sticker price, substantially more expensive than the public affairs school.

I hope this is helpful!

[ILAR]

Thank you so much for the response! I appreciate your feedback.