FAFSA for Grad School?

[samman1994]

Hello everyone,

As the title states, is there any federal or state financial+ aid for PhD programs? Either in the form of FAFSA or Pell Grants (I know each state has their own program). I assumed since you receive a stipend, the government/state doesn't give you any financial aid, but I did have a friend who said he had heard of getting financial aid for grad school (although that was a Masters program, so I don't know if the same applies to a PhD). 

[ZeChocMoose]

35 minutes ago, samman1994 said:

Hello everyone,

As the title states, is there any federal or state financial+ aid for PhD programs? Either in the form of FAFSA or Pell Grants (I know each state has their own program). I assumed since you receive a stipend, the government/state doesn't give you any financial aid, but I did have a friend who said he had heard of getting financial aid for grad school (although that was a Masters program, so I don't know if the same applies to a PhD). 

FAFSA is the application that you fill out to receive federal student aid and stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid.  It's not a "form" of federal aid - it's the application to get the aid.  For undergraduates, aid either comes in grants, loans, or work study from the federal government. Pell grants are usually only for undergraduate students so most likely you are not eligible. For graduate school, this aid comes in loans or work study from the federal government.  For loans, you have the choice of Stafford unsubsidized loan or Grad PLUS loan. They have different interest rates, maximum borrowing limits, terms, etc.  For more information, I suggest going to this website (https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/) and reading the information provided.

For assistance from your state for grad school that is fairly unusual.  In some high demand fields (education, health, medicine, etc), the state may offer graduate students the ability to borrow more for graduate school, pay the interest on your loans, or loan forgiveness after working x number of years in particular industries.  I would suggest looking at the department of education in your state to see if they offer this.  Usually, they restrict some of these programs to in-state schools only or you need to be employed in the state.  FYI - most state aid is directed towards undergraduate students. 

[samman1994]

I see thank you. From everything I saw on that site, in conjunction with what you said, it appears that for grad school applicants (except in very specific fields/situations) there is no federal aid in the form of grants available. 

As to state aid, I'm assuming that is subjective to each state, I was just curious if there was any point in applying for federal aid (FAFSA) as a grad student or not. 

[ZeChocMoose]

There is grant aid available for graduate students through federal agencies like the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, etc.  It's not need-based though - it's based on merit, competitive, and has a separate application process.

If you want a loan in your first year, then yes it is smart to fill out the FAFSA.  I know people in my PhD program would take out small loans to pay for moving costs, living expenses, computers, etc. even though we were fully funded.  Although stipends in education are not as high as stipends typically are in science so you might not have a need for a loan.