Funding for Terminal MAs

[Kantianisms]

I was just wondering what information people have regarding funding for top (PGR rated) terminal MAs. In particular, I was wondering about Tufts and Brandeis, both of which don't seem to offer much information.

 

Brandeis:

Tuition Remission and Scholarships

Financial aid from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is available. Most students qualify for some financial aid. In addition, the department offers several teaching assistantships to incoming candidates, thus helping defray the cost of graduate study in philosophy.

http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/philosophy/mastersprogram/whybrandeis.html

 

Tufts:

We provide partial tuition remissions to most of our successful applicants who demonstrate financial need. The average tuition remission is about 60% of the total tuition cost....After their first semester in the program, students in good academic standing can apply for a Teaching Assistantship. These are granted on a course-by-course basis and currently pay slightly more than $4,200 per course (or, when a course breaks into discussion sections, per section, though students rarely are assigned more than one section per semester). Though we ordinarily can accommodate all M.A. candidates in good standing, when there is a shortage of Teaching Assistant positions, priority is given to students with less teaching experience--all other things being equal. Except under unusual circumstances, we do not assign teaching to first-semester M.A. candidates.

http://ase.tufts.edu/philosophy/graduate/financial.asp

 

This is opposed to a program like UWM:

Teaching Assistantships

A number of graduate teaching assistantships are available, offering full tuition remission and salaries of $7,659 for first year TA's and $7,745 for second year TA's. Normally, provided they make adequate progress toward the degree, students who enter with graduate teaching assistantships will have them for the full two years. All applicants are automatically considered for teaching assistantships. No special application form is needed.

http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/philosophy/graduate/

 

So, I am wondering if anyone has an idea of how much a graduate student has to pay for school (if at all) for Brandeis or Tufts, or any other MA program. Also, if you have information on a program like UWM, it would be nice to know how well the stipend covers living expenses, whether you need another job (besides TAship), etc.

 

Thanks!

[akaveha]

I was just wondering what information people have regarding funding for top (PGR rated) terminal MAs. In particular, I was wondering about Tufts and Brandeis, both of which don't seem to offer much information.

 

Brandeis:

Tuition Remission and Scholarships

Financial aid from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is available. Most students qualify for some financial aid. In addition, the department offers several teaching assistantships to incoming candidates, thus helping defray the cost of graduate study in philosophy.

http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/philosophy/mastersprogram/whybrandeis.html

 

Tufts:

We provide partial tuition remissions to most of our successful applicants who demonstrate financial need. The average tuition remission is about 60% of the total tuition cost....After their first semester in the program, students in good academic standing can apply for a Teaching Assistantship. These are granted on a course-by-course basis and currently pay slightly more than $4,200 per course (or, when a course breaks into discussion sections, per section, though students rarely are assigned more than one section per semester). Though we ordinarily can accommodate all M.A. candidates in good standing, when there is a shortage of Teaching Assistant positions, priority is given to students with less teaching experience--all other things being equal. Except under unusual circumstances, we do not assign teaching to first-semester M.A. candidates.

http://ase.tufts.edu/philosophy/graduate/financial.asp

 

This is opposed to a program like UWM:

Teaching Assistantships

A number of graduate teaching assistantships are available, offering full tuition remission and salaries of $7,659 for first year TA's and $7,745 for second year TA's. Normally, provided they make adequate progress toward the degree, students who enter with graduate teaching assistantships will have them for the full two years. All applicants are automatically considered for teaching assistantships. No special application form is needed.

http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/philosophy/graduate/

 

So, I am wondering if anyone has an idea of how much a graduate student has to pay for school (if at all) for Brandeis or Tufts, or any other MA program. Also, if you have information on a program like UWM, it would be nice to know how well the stipend covers living expenses, whether you need another job (besides TAship), etc.

 

Thanks!

 

I may be able to offer insight into a couple PGR rated MA programs. I was rejected from Tufts, and accepted by Brandeis and Northern Illinois. I don't have any first-hand info about Tufts, but from what I understand, admitted students should expect ~50% funding at the most. The funding package that I received from Brandeis included 50% tuition remission and an assistantship for a single semester. I confirmed with the department that there is no further funding. The need-based funding that the graduate school offers through fafsa is included in the partial remission. The weird thing is that this year, the admission letter called this a "merit-based" scholarship. However, in previous years it has been billed as "25% need-based and 25% merit-based" scholarship. When I discovered this, I found their liberal use of "merit-based" misleading, since I mistakenly assumed that there would also be need-based funds available for my education. The program is technically a single year, but nearly all students extend it to 1.5 or 2 years. The extension fee is around $5,000. The assistantships are guaranteed to every student for a single semester. Depending on undergrad enrollment in philosophy, most students TA for more than one semester. This year the pay was $3,200 a semester. All together, I would have paid at least $22,000 for an education at Brandeis. I was told that Brandeis simply doesn't have a large enough undergraduate enrollment to offer more funding to graduate students. Most grad students in philosophy take out loans to fund themselves. IMO you are paying for an excellent education in an academically lively city--e.g. Brandeis students often take classes at Tufts and Harvard. So I can see how some students could incur the costs to go there. 

 

I don't know much about UWM, but it sounds similar to NIU. NIU offers excellent funding I think. Most students enjoy full tuition remission for their first year. Tuition for the second year is still less expensive than most schools. The department also offers ~five graduate teaching assistantships. The contract lasts for a year and is renewable, pending academic progress, etc. The pay this year is around $12,000. Compared to the TAship at Brandeis, not only is the GTA-ship at NIU twice as long, it also pays twice as much. That said, I've heard that the department at Brandeis offers full funding to one or two exceptional students each year. I think they try to keep this on the hush-hush, so you may be able to negotiate. I was promptly shot down when I tried. 

 

At the end of the day, each student has their own utility function. Having visited with grad students at NIU, Brandeis, and even a few MAPHers at UChicago, I could totally understand why a student might choose to incur debt and be a part of an awesome philosophical community, or choose to study in the not-so-exciting town of DeKalb alongside really excellent faculty and peers. 

 

I hope this gives you a picture of two very different funding offers. Let me know if my limited perspective can be of any more use. 

Edited May 30, 2014 by akaveha

[Kantianisms]

That is extremely helpful. Thank you so much!

 

However, I wonder whether or not it is worth it to add debt for Tufts or Brandeis considering the placements of other top MA programs. Ian Faircloud has a nice chart (which hopefully will be updated soon) http://faircloudblog.wordpress.com/masters-program-placement-record/

UWM definitely did better than Tufts this year, and Georgia State was comparable to both UWM and Brandeis. NIU didn't seem to have a great year, but they did get students into both Toronto and USC, and generally do comparably. I wonder what others think, but it seems to be a better idea to go with MA programs other than Brandeis or Tufts since you are just as likely to be placed in a good program without adding additional debt. What do others think?