What are most people doing to finance grad school?

[Ithicain]

I was JUST accepted to UCF's SLP Master's program for Spring 2015. Beyond excited as I was terrified of being rejected since it's so competitive. Now, I count myself lucky to have not needed to take out ANY loans for undergrad. I've either gotten the Pell Grant and paid along the way. Needless to say, I am now very broke and living from month-to-month. I live with my boyfriend (which really cuts down on rent) but still have to pay around $550 a month for my expenses.

 

For my first semester my Dad is offering to pay my tuition but after that I will be on my own. I'm really scared to take out any loans-- I'm searching my butt off for some assistantships but it's difficult to find one! I'd love to be a T.A.

 

My current job will still hire me for Spring semester (it's a part-time job) but that means I will not be able to take one class next semester that was suggested for the first semester. I guess I'd take it another semester? Still trying to work that out with my advisor. ANYWAYS, I'm kinda just freaking out. My advisor is telling me NOT to work, but does she not understand that I will be going into tons of debt? It's at least $5,000 a semester in tuition alone, not to mention rent and living expenses.

 

What do MOST people do during graduate school? If you take out loans, how much are you taking out?

 

Also, if anyone has been or is currently in the SLP program at UCF, I'd really love to chat with you in private. Thanks guys!

[awash_]

My friend is actually doing either SLP or Counseling at UCF right now (I cannot remember for the life of me)! She lives with her longtime boyfriend, which obviously cuts down on expenses. Other than that, she works at Seaworld and is taking out loans. With large-ish programs like SLP at UCF, it's difficult to land TA assistantships or fellowships; your best bet would be competing for the on-campus jobs since they work with demanding schedules. Knightlink is a really good resource for that!

 

Otherwise, it's gonna be loan city for a while.

[GeoDUDE!]

I personally would never pay for graduate school. I know that isn't an option for everyone, but if i Didn't get both my MS and PhD fully funded (with livable stipend), I would have found other means for supporting myself. 

 

Remember that there is not just a financial, but also an opportunity cost to going to graduate school. You have to devote a lot of your time for a reasonable period of time when you are in a very productive part of your life.

 

You have to ask yourself, what does working vs not working get for me. Are you going to be a rockstar if you don't work and take out more loans? Or will you get a similar level of production, just under less stress.  What does going into debt buy you? 

[essequamvideri]

I agree with Geodude. Especially for PhD programs, the opportunity cost of spending around 5 years in graduate school is huge enough, and paying for it is insane. For shorter professional programs like yours, it makes a bit more sense, but you still want to do a very careful cost/benefit analysis. 

[Igotnothin]

I bet less than 10% of Master's students across all fields are fully funded (excluding people in continuous MS/PhD programs).

[guttata]

There are so many variants on the masters degree that that's a worthless stat (and also, likely wrong). My dept offers a thesis and non-thesis masters, neither of which is part of a continuous program. All thesis-based students (the majority) are fully funded with stipend and waiver, while non-thesis students receive nothing.

[GeoDUDE!]

There are so many variants on the masters degree that that's a worthless stat (and also, likely wrong). My dept offers a thesis and non-thesis masters, neither of which is part of a continuous program. All thesis-based students (the majority) are fully funded with stipend and waiver, while non-thesis students receive nothing.

 

 

All of the students in my department, MS or PhD (which are both researched based) are fully funded at the same level (except PhD candidates, where they get a raise for passing the qualifier). 90%+ of the MS students at my last department were also funded (and if they werent funded, the 2 or 3 who werent, got a 2/3s tuition waiver). 

 

Most strong departments in the sciences fund all their research students. Professional Masters are a different matter.

[Igotnothin]

All of the students in my department, MS or PhD (which are both researched based) are fully funded at the same level (except PhD candidates, where they get a raise for passing the qualifier). 90%+ of the MS students at my last department were also funded (and if they werent funded, the 2 or 3 who werent, got a 2/3s tuition waiver). 

 

Most strong departments in the sciences fund all their research students. Professional Masters are a different matter.

 

 

The OP is talking about a professional master's degree.

[victorydance]

Sometimes I wonder why a lot of people who get into financial problems on here don't actually save up money before going to grad school. 

[GCool]

Sometimes I wonder why a lot of people who get into financial problems on here don't actually save up money before going to grad school. 

 

 

Well, more than likely some of them feel it's in their best interest to get the degree out of the way now while they're still young. Many people have worked hard through undergrad with graduate school in mind. I agree with you, don't get me wrong; it doesn't make sense for a lot of people who won't receive full funding to continue with school and cross their fingers when they enter the real world. However, that isn't the mentality of certain students who think they have more to contribute in an academic setting before making their cases for industry.

 

And oh man, are some of them in for a rude awakening.

[jujubea]

Not to mention that the U.S. economic system in its present state pretty much only functions because people don't save...

Edited January 5, 2015 by jujubea

[starofdawn]

I bet less than 10% of Master's students across all fields are fully funded (excluding people in continuous MS/PhD programs).

 

I would only disagree if we are including TAs. Otherwise, I haven't found a single fellowship/RA/scholarship/etc that doesn't heavily prefer PhD students. Including STEM.

[shadowclaw]

I paid for my first year of my masters program using student loans. I had a less than stellar undergrad GPA (although a very high major GPA) and was rejected from all the PhD programs I applied to. At that point, I didn't have a lot of options left and many POIs weren't looking for masters students. I also wasn't sure if I could secure funding for a masters program, since many EEB programs are dependent on POIs funding their students. So I decided to apply mostly locally so I could live at home, and I ended up getting accepted to the three masters programs I applied to. One offered a partial tuition waiver (but was expensive), while the other two didn't offer funding (but were cheap). The research project at the school I chose was too amazing to pass up (and it was one of the cheap ones), so I don't think I would have accepted an offer from the other two schools even if they did offer funding.

 

Three courses plus fees each semester was about $4500. I borrowed a little extra to offset the gas expense (it's a good hour and fifteen minute drive to get there), took classes three days per week, and worked three or four days per week at a part-time waitressing job. Over the summer, I did get a small stipend from my advisor which amounted to about $2200, plus all of my travel and food costs paid for while doing research (which included 3 weeks in Japan). I also continued working at my job almost full-time for about 2 months over the summer.

 

This year, I received one of the department's graduate assistantships, which covers tuition and offers a very modest stipend (as the graduate coordinator put it). The stipend came out to be a little bit less than what I was making as a waitress, but I am also getting free tuition out of the deal, and the job doesn't suck. I actually did take out a loan, too, to cover various fees and to again help out with gas (which was even more important now that I would be on campus 5 days per week). However, it isn't nearly as much as when I was paying for tuition.

 

So is the debt worth it? I think so. The research experience alone was worth it. Had I started looking for masters programs in the fall instead of in the spring, I could have found several funded masters programs with great research projects, but I probably wouldn't have been accepted. So I don't think there was really any other option for me.