Funding for Masters Degrees

[CommonerCoffee]

Hello! I am going into my junior year of undergraduate next year and figure that it's probably best to do some research on biostatistics graduate programs.

I am more interested in doing a Masters degree than a PhD because I'm not sure if my family could financially handle 5 more years of graduate studies before I get a job to help support them. 

Honestly I would love to do a PhD program but I'm not sure if that's feasible in my circumstances. 

I understand that funding for graduate programs are almost entirely reserved for PhD students but I was wondering if there were any exceptions that significantly or fully fund their Masters students in biostatistics?

I don't think I could attend a Masters program if it would cost over 10k a year. I would greatly appreciate any advice or information anyone has!

[Shostakovich]

There are some MS programs known to provide full funding for a good % of their students. UW, Michigan, and Berkeley come to mind (but I think UW may discontinue doing that in the future).

 

If you're in-state in California UCLA might be around 15k to attend per year.

[CommonerCoffee]

Thank you so much for your insight!

 

Those three sounds like great places to apply too, although maybe a bit difficult to get into since they seem so highly regarded. 

I guess Berkeley and Michigan funding their MS would make sense since they don't generally offer a straight to PhD from Undergrad from what I understand.

If anyone else knows about places that fund their MS, I would be very interested in knowing.

 

I see you're attending UW and congratulations for getting in there! Do you think they will discontinuing funding their MS by the time I apply (2014 in the Fall)?

 

Looks like an MS in UCLA would be out of the question for me since I live in NYC.

[lafresca]

If you are interested in applying to schools in southern california, Cal State Northridge (CSUN) offers funding for minority / financially disadvantaged students. The program is called MBRS-RISE for graduate students, and it is funded by the NIH.  You receive a monthly stipend, tuition remission, money for supplies, and money to travel to conferences. It's a pretty awesome deal. I was an MBRS-RISE scholar as an MA student in general experimental psych. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

[Shostakovich]

Thank you so much for your insight!

 

Those three sounds like great places to apply too, although maybe a bit difficult to get into since they seem so highly regarded. 

I guess Berkeley and Michigan funding their MS would make sense since they don't generally offer a straight to PhD from Undergrad from what I understand.

If anyone else knows about places that fund their MS, I would be very interested in knowing.

 

I see you're attending UW and congratulations for getting in there! Do you think they will discontinuing funding their MS by the time I apply (2014 in the Fall)?

 

Looks like an MS in UCLA would be out of the question for me since I live in NYC.

 

I'm not aware of any specifics on funding for MS students at UW. Just heard it might be running short soon, but I would still apply and see if they give you funding along with the acceptance letter.

 

I also know Columbia has a 1-year accelerated masters program with some funding available for students who get in, but I think you're pretty much expected to apply to their PhD program for the coming year.

[CommonerCoffee]

If you are interested in applying to schools in southern california, Cal State Northridge (CSUN) offers funding for minority / financially disadvantaged students. The program is called MBRS-RISE for graduate students, and it is funded by the NIH.  You receive a monthly stipend, tuition remission, money for supplies, and money to travel to conferences. It's a pretty awesome deal. I was an MBRS-RISE scholar as an MA student in general experimental psych. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

 

Oh thank you very much for this information! I wasn't aware of this at all. I looked into it a bit and it seems like they expect you to go into a PhD program right after so I'm not sure if this is for me, since I might not be a good situation to pursue a PhD. Will definitely keep in mind though.

 

 

I'm not aware of any specifics on funding for MS students at UW. Just heard it might be running short soon, but I would still apply and see if they give you funding along with the acceptance letter.

 

I also know Columbia has a 1-year accelerated masters program with some funding available for students who get in, but I think you're pretty much expected to apply to their PhD program for the coming year.

 

Oh I sure hope funding doesn't end soon but I guess this kind of thing will inevitably happen.

 

Going to Columbia would be great since I would be at home but being locked into a PhD is what I'm trying to avoid. 

I just don't want to be in a PhD program and back out at some point, essentially wasting all their funding on me.