Great school, no funding. Feedback?

[peaceandjustice94]

Hi everyone, 

I applied for my MPP for the Fall of 2020, my GPA from undergrad was low - a 3.0 and my GRE scores were very average. I have a few years of work experience both in state government and non profit and am very passionate and was able to convey my passion through my essays in my application, along with some solid letters of recommendation. I received admission into UCLA's Masters in public policy program and UCI's masters in public policy program. UCLA is my DREAM school, however they didn't give me any money. UCI did however provide some money and I'm asking UCLA to match the award. 

my question is, do you guys know any other ways to receive funding? It's so expensive but UCLA is also my dream school. Advice/feedback welcome. 

[CeXra]

You can look for external funding programs like NSF, Ford, GEM etc. What these programs do is provide great funding for several years (usually 3). Usually the grad program supplement the remaining 2 years in order for the student to have a guaranteed 5 years of funding. Most fellowships (major ones) open in the fall and then we hear back in the spring (March/April)... You can attempt to look for more fellowship programs that can offer a year, then when start UCLA you can apply to as much fellowships as you can.. from there, hopefully you hear good news. Or ask to defer offer to UCLA for a year and apply to fellowships in hopes to get external funding. 

There are a lot of good external funding programs, mostly competitive but this is one way to get funding. 

[IslaN]

I too wonder about this. I keep reading don’t go to a school without funding, but those who are saying it are speaking to students that have a 4.0 or near to, a high GRE score, and experience in conducting research. It seems to me you are lucky to have been awarded some funding from UCI but with the collegiate market so competitive one cannot expect us average students to only go somewhere we have full or near to full funding. I agree, what should the average Joe/Jolene do?

[GradSchoolGrad]

57 minutes ago, IslaN said:

I too wonder about this. I keep reading don’t go to a school without funding, but those who are saying it are speaking to students that have a 4.0 or near to, a high GRE score, and experience in conducting research. It seems to me you are lucky to have been awarded some funding from UCI but with the collegiate market so competitive one cannot expect us average students to only go somewhere we have full or near to full funding. I agree, what should the average Joe/Jolene do?

Figure out what your career goals are... If you are going for lower paying post MPP job market --> loans are a terrible. If you seek to go private sector or even certain government roles, loans might not be an idea. However, you don't want to follow the money all the time. Just know what you want.