What’s funding like for non-PhD students in your field?

[MaryHildegard]

I was recently accepted to Boston University’s Master of Theological Studies program. Tuition is about 11k a semester, and they offered me a 70% scholarship. Harvard Divinity offers everyone with need at least 75%, and I know someone who got 80% from Princeton, and someone (who is not currently being sponsored for ordination) who got 50% from Nashotah. I should note that I’m pretty average — 3.4, Economics degree from an okay state school. 

On the other hand, I see lots of posts about people racking up 6 figures in grad school debt, and people saying that in their field masters’ students get no money. So I’m curious as to what funding for non-PhD students is like in other disciplines. 

Edited February 6, 2021 by MaryHildegard

[ajak568]

For econ master's you can sometimes get funding, but full funding isn't common. Fully funded public policy master's (i.e., terminal degrees), however, are out there, but there still exist very expensive public policy programs that don't offer funding and people still choose to enroll in those for whatever reason.

[JMAurelius]

In the Classics there are more funded MA programs than there used to be, but they are still in the minority, and not all of them offer full funding.  Some pre-doctoral programs, such as the one at Princeton, are also funded and could potentially be a great stepping stone to a full PhD program.  In fact, the Princeton pre-doc fellowship comes with an offer of admission to their doctoral program, provided you make satisfactory academic progress, of course.

[Need_Answer1]

I have a question related to funding for MA programs. I am an international student. What does an in-state tuition waiver of a particular amount mean exactly? I am familiar with the idea of full tuition waivers but I am not quite sure of this. Does this mean that only a portion of the non-resident tuition fee will be covered? In that case, would it be possible for an international student to cover the tuition fees for both years and the living cost with the stipend you get for a Teaching Assistantship? 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Need_Answer1

[JMAurelius]

6 hours ago, JMAurelius said:

In the Classics there are more funded MA programs than there used to be, but they are still in the minority, and not all of them offer full funding.  Some pre-doctoral programs, such as the one at Princeton, are also funded and could potentially be a great stepping stone to a full PhD program.  In fact, the Princeton pre-doc fellowship comes with an offer of admission to their doctoral program, provided you make satisfactory academic progress, of course.

Just realized that the wording of my previous response to the OP's question is misleading and a bit confusing.  What I meant to say is that fully funded Classics MA programs are still a small minority.  Out of the forty or so Classics MAs many (though not sure if a majority) do offer some form of financial assistance.