What are your successful strategies to avoid taking out loans?

[MaxFreakOut]

OK I've cooled down. How do I do this? Where do I look for the mysterious 'extra mural' grants I've heard whispers of? My GA is unsympathetic and unhelpful.

[anthropologygeek]

Department fellowships, other department funding, national fellowships, region specifici fellowships

[MaxFreakOut]

Oh I get it, since they're competitive nobody wants to detail the good ones. The meritocracy and all that . . .

[ajgolemb28]

Where have you applied? Try contacting the grad students at.those schools. Most of the time you hear about scholarships or granys through other people.

[anthropologygeek]

Max- I've given you everything I have applied to and or received. Yes I left some leg work for you but that's to make sure you want it bad enough

[NoSleepTilBreuckelen]

Max - a lot of extramural fellowships are not anthropology-specific, but are awarded across several fields. You may want to check out the section of the Forums called "The Bank" - there's talk there a variety of funding sources: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/17-the-bank/

 

(One I would suggest looking into are NSF, Ford Fellowship, and NEH).

[PowderRiver]

Anthropologygeek hit all the major areas.

 

It's not a "competition thing" at all, but it takes time and effort. Apply to funding within your department (which obviously varies between schools). Then apply to other departments (again: school-specific). Then apply to any available regional funding. Then apply to funding from professional organizations in your field (AAA, AAPA, SAA, etc.). Then apply to the national funding sources (NSF, NIH, Wenner-Gren). Then look around for any labs/colleagues that need help with their work. Then look for summer jobs if you have to.

 

Graduate students in your department are the best source of funding information, as they're in the same boat as you are. Your advisor (and eventual committee) will be the next resource. Different departments have you apply to different funds at different times, so this is probably a better question for them. The Bank here on these forums has a nice list, but in the end there is no master list of funding... I doubt there ever will be.

[rising_star]

Once you reach a certain stage, lists like this one are helpful. Your best bet is to talk to your graduate school and/or use their website plus your fellow grad students.

[AKCarlton]

Thanks for the links everyone...despite getting a research assistantship and a teaching assistantship, I still want to apply to a few scholarships so I can try hard to not have to take out a loan to already add to my debt.