Funding

[notmike]

I have to say that I'm having great success getting into public policy schools. Its another story when it comes to funding. Can anyone tell me how common it is to pursue a graduate degree in this field absent some type of funding, particularly at schools that charge a considerable amount to attend?

 

In particular, I doubt I will qualify for any private loans. I'd essentially be looking at maxing my federal loans and supplementing that with assistantships etc.

[suani]

I am in the same boat, notmike. I am blessed in that I got accepted into all of the programs that I applied to but I didn't get $$$ from any of them. Not sure if I want to be $75K in debt after two years of graduate school so I would like to know how others are swinging it.

[thevillagersid]

I'm in the same boat as well. The good ship Indebtedness may be shabby, but at least she's not lonely.

[mbrapp89]

I'm also in a similar situation. Although, I did receive money from 2/5 programs I was accepted to, but funding is minimal, not exceeding 10k from either program. I've really given this a lot of thought, and I think you have to strike a balance between your current situation as well as future financial prospects. For instance, I have $0 owed in undergraduate debt, so I'm more inclined to take on 70K in the form of graduate debt. To me this is just an investment in my future; one that I'm more than willing to make. Also, consider the general rule of thumb when it comes to school debt, which is to not borrow (depending on savings, other factors etc.) more than your annual earning potential. 

 

Personally, I plan to pay with federal loans. I have absolutely no intention of taking on private loans and I would urge anyone else reading this to steer clear of private loans as well - those people really get you by the balls. Anyway, loans in conjunction with assistantships and the minimal financial packages that I have received, as well as the possibility of declaring state residency my second year in school (only an option if you attend a public school), makes things quite manageable. It's easy to get overwhelmed with the big price tags of a lot of these programs, but I bet if you speak with current students and/or someone from an admissions/bursar office, they'll break things down for you in a way that seems much less daunting. 

[MaxwellAlum]

I'm a recent public administration grad with about $50,000 in federal student loans, and I'm of two minds about this.  On the one hand, federal student loans (not private loans) have a lot of flexibility in terms of repayment.  You can choose to have your payments based on your income, so that helps if you want to take a job with a less than ideal salary.  Also, if you do go into public service, you may be able to get some relief via the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (the Obama administration recently proposed some changes to this: http://www.edcentral.org/obama-administration-announces-major-reforms-income-based-repayment/ )  Because of these options I don't feel particularly overwhelmed with my student loans.  Of course it would be great not to dish out a couple hundred bucks every month, but my degree has made a world of difference in getting me on the career track I want to be on.  

 

That said, student loans are not only a huge pain administratively (the servicers that you have to deal with to repay your loans are awful), but they can possibly affect your finances in other ways, such as preventing you from qualifying for a mortgage (I'm not an expert on this).  Also, if your hope is to repay your loans as quickly as possible, bear in mind that with this year's interest rates on direct unsubsidized loans (5.41%), just the amount of interest that accrues every month on a $50,000 balance is over $200.  So that's going to limit how much you can pay back.  Personally, I would never recommend anybody take on six figure debt for public policy school, for starters because the amount of interest that accrues on that by itself can be overwhelming on a public sector salary.  It can definitely be managed (especially with income-based repayment), but definitely think about how much you expect to be making after grad school and what your other financial goals will be such as buying a house or saving for retirement.