Asking for funding at my current school

[sveera13]

Hello everyone,

 

I got into the MA program at my current school but they have not offered me any funding yet. The program coordinator for graduate studies at the university said that I should get into contact with the department about funding options. I know a few professors well (one of them even asked me to let him know if he could do anything for me about my grad school apps) in the department. I was wondering how I could contact them about funding, i.e., I want to ask for their support for funding without sounding too pushy or bold (I'm still taking classes with them, so I don't want to make things awkward)? Do you think it's ok to contact them about funding? If so, any ideas about how I could do that?

 

Thank you!

[bakalamba]

Well, there's a difference between no funding, and that funding information hasn't arrived yet - unfortunately programs don't make this very clear, particularly with the MA. I think you should get in contact with the head of the department or the administrative assistant to see when funding letters (or info about funding) is released. You might not want to contact faculty if it's just a matter of weeks until you'll know about funding - and the department head can tell you what funding options are out there.

 

Then you can use your personal connections to ask faculty. I usually ask questions like: "How do your students typically fund their degrees?" or "Do you offer Graduate Assistantship/Teaching Assistantship positions to Masters students?" Faculty understand how expensive graduate school can be, so they'll know what you're asking for. You'll get a feel for which faculty is patient in answering specific funding questions and finding out answers, and who prefer these questions be asked of the people in the Department Office (so it's good that you already know some of the faculty).

[sveera13]

Thanks for your help, rbamattre! I got in touch with the head of department but she told me that the department doesn't offer any fellowship or assistantship to MA students. She referred me to other sources of funding though, but I'm afraid they would not be enough.

 

Anyways, thanks for your help!