Approaching a school for additional (or any!) funding?

[mmac06]

I have been admitted to two great Master of Public Policy programs for the fall. However, both schools are pretty expensive (around $40,000 in tuition / year), especially considering I will likely be working in the non-profit sector. Graduating with well over $80,000 (tuition + living) in debt makes me queasy.

My question is: How does one go about asking for more money? I was planning on calling the Financial Aid Office at each school to explain my situation and explore my options. Has anyone had any success doing this? Any advice on how to go about it? What have other people done to secure more funding?

I feel like any advice would be helpful to me and many others who are in similar situations. Thank you all!

[StellaHaiti2]

I will have to take similar levels of debt (even with a fellowship), but I'm comforted by the federal loans which if you go into public service or non profit, you pay back as a percentage of your salary and only for 10 years, at which time it is forgiven. Definitely go ahead and make appts with their financial aid advisors, it is what they are there for!

[mmac06]

I will have to take similar levels of debt (even with a fellowship), but I'm comforted by the federal loans which if you go into public service or non profit, you pay back as a percentage of your salary and only for 10 years, at which time it is forgiven. Definitely go ahead and make appts with their financial aid advisors, it is what they are there for!

Thanks StellaHaiti2. I keep seeing your name pop up on posts I'm reading. Very helpful.

Does anyone else have experience approaching schools for funding??

Edited April 6, 2011 by mmac06

[borderlands]

Most Master's programs are unfortunately unfunded meaning that the applicant has to go into debt through loans. It's very hard to get funding for graduate programs if it is a terminal MA degree vs a Ph.D. program that offer M.Phil en route to the doctoral degree.

I would not go into further debt. It is truly not worth it, if you think about it in financial terms like you mentioned, but if it's something you really want to do then reapply to MA programs that do have funding or at least partial tuition exceptions. Do your research into funded MA there are a few and reapply next year. If you think your application is strong enough for the PhD program along with your GPA and GRE then apply to these programs next year.