How did you fund your MA in Religious Studies?

[chaosmosaic]

We all know that the logic with graduate programs is you should never go into debt. However, it is my impression that the majority of MAs - while they may offer something - are not fully funded and have very little funding.

How did you fund your MA? Did you go into debt? Did you choose money over academics? Did you find some magical external source you could clue me in to?
I had one professor I spoke to before application seasons tell me this would happen and said that it should be looked at as an investment - that the MA, which would cost money, would be what got me into a PhD that funded me. Do you agree?

[drivingthoughts]

@chaosmosaic I earned an M.Div - three years of glorious unfunded academia. This was paid for with loans, my working as an editor and copywriter, and my spouse's employment. The one bit of advice that I have is get in and get out ASAP. The longer you take, the more it will cost, so in a way, taking a loan for the whole amount and powering through in a year and a half to graduate into a funded program will be cheaper than working/schooling/small loans over four years or something. 

Good luck, and if you find a magical source of money, I would love to know about it as well.

[KA.DINGER.RA]

I am wrapping up my MA from the University of Georgia.  I was funded for three years and received a full tuition waver.  The pay was relatively low (11,500 over 9 months) but I luckily had money saved up before entering my studies.  I also maintained a second job in addition to studying and teaching.  The best thing (and to my knowledge, UGA is the only MA program to do this) is that you get to teach.  Not TA, but teach.  You are an instructor of record.  You write your own syllabus, teach your own material, etc.  It has been a major selling point in my PhD applications so far.  I loved my masters institution and I think its religion program (particularly Hebrew Bible) is really underrated. 

[menge]

I'm doing an MA in Comparative Religion (just an outdated way of saying religious studies, not an indication of any methodological commitments) at Western Michigan U which offers funding to qualifying incoming MA's. My understanding is that average funding (as in, what I have and what I believe most students have) includes about 6 credits of tuition, a TAship, and a small stipend to put towards healthcare. Some students are upgraded to instructors of record (what @releighheth describes above) in their second year, which I believe increases the level of funding and tuition covered. A student not teaching their own course at all can probably expect to have to pay for 9 credits, as well as student fees. 

I have the fortunate circumstance that my partner is employed at a very good job, so we were able to cover what my funding package didn't. I also worked for 6 years between undergrad and MA to pay off my undergrad loans and save some money, knowing that it was unlikely to get a fully funded MA. 

Edited February 26, 2016 by menge

[hswg]

Another option is to look into something like the Fulbright. I was awarded one to pursue my Masters in the UK--like many of you above, I wanted this degree to help focus my interests, have another research project, and prep me for PhD applications. Other awards like the Gates-Cambridge, etc. could be options too. The pros are a prestigious award, tuition waiver, living stipend, an opportunity to spend time abroad, and a quicker (usually one year) degree; the downsides, of course, are the competitive nature of the application process and, possibly for some of you with partners/families/etc, living abroad for a year. Still, if you're just starting to think about Masters programs, I would definitely recommend taking a look at these options. The deadlines are usually in early/mid October. 

[ibnbattuta]

UChicago Div School offers pretty good funding, at the very least incoming MA students receive a scholarship for 50% off of tuition.  Thus the degree "only" costs about 16k a year for two years, with the opportunity to apply for other sources of funding i.e. FLAS, CLS, etc.  In addition there are a plethora of employment opportunities for graduate students.

[marXian]

The title of your thread is a bit misleading (not your fault; this confusion is super common.)

Degrees from seminaries/div schools ≠ MA in religious studies from religious studies department in a university.

Yes, some seminaries/div schools, e.g. Yale or Chicago, offer MAs in religion. The difference is that seminaries/div schools have hundreds of students all earning an MDiv, MTS, or MA in theology or religion. These are typically "graduate institutions" meaning there are no undergrads to support significant grad funding.

On the other hand, an MA in RS (which are increasingly rare I think compared to graduate degrees from seminaries/div schools) are supported by religious studies departments within a university which has an undergrad population to support grad funding. Hence you have people like raleighheth and menge above in these kinds of programs who have full funding. I did an MA in English at a small public university in Colorado with tuition fully funded and a monthly stipend. 

So your question is not actually about how to pay for an MA in religious studies--it's about how to pay for an MDiv/MTS/MA from a seminary or div school.

[fides quarens intellectum]

Florida State fully funds their MA students. I'm not sure how many get to be instructor of record but there's definitely opportunities for that after the first year. In any event all MA students receive full tuition waivers, a stipend around 13,000 and a health insurance stipend as well (I'm unsure of the amount, but it does at least help).  

[chaosmosaic]

@marXian no, I asked exactly what I meant. While some MAs in Religious Studies - *academic* programs - such as those listed by those above do have funding, but some do not, from very good schools: UVA offers no MA funding, Duke 40%. I AM asking about funding an MA in a Religious Studies program in a University. You are incorrect. 

[marXian]

13 hours ago, chaosmosaic said:

@marXian no, I asked exactly what I meant. While some MAs in Religious Studies - *academic* programs - such as those listed by those above do have funding, but some do not, from very good schools: UVA offers no MA funding, Duke 40%. I AM asking about funding an MA in a Religious Studies program in a University. You are incorrect. 

My mistake! The vast majority of people posting here are interested in seminary degrees and often don't understand the difference. I shouldn't have assumed that was you.

[sacklunch]

Some of the well-known ones have been mentioned (Duke's MA). You might look at state schools. KU comes to mind. I think they offer full funding for those teaching while doing the program (TA). 

[staplerinjello]

I teach and often have students ask me about funded Master's programs. Could we draw up, or find on the internet, a list of decent universities that fund MA religious studies and humanities MA programs more generally? I feel like this should be a thing on the internet for people who want to take a cautious step towards an eventual PhD

[fides quarens intellectum]

Florida State funds MA in religious studies and humanities. 

[tdwightdavis]

I just applied to the MA at Vanderbilt through the GDR and it's at least 70% funded with the possibility for more. 

[Spanky]

I'm following this thread because I'm struggling with the same issue.  I've been accepted to a new MA in Religious Studies program nearby (but it's online, anyway) but there is no funding at all except Stafford loans.  On the upside, the school is inexpensive (3 hours=$975), but still.  I'm working full time, seriously considering possibility of quitting my job, knocking out the MA as quickly as possible.  

[xypathos]

Syracuse fully funds MA students with no TA'ing obligation. From what I've been told by faculty is that university fellowships are awarded to MA students while TA'ing contracts and funding is awarded solely to PhD students. This way PhD students get teaching experience while MA students can focus on their studies and thesis. All of this being said - Syracuse accepts 1-3 MA students a year, so the acceptance rate is generally <5% - somewhere around 75 MA applications.

To echo driving's point - get in and get out. Its beneficial for everyone. If you have full funding and flexibility on time limits, by all means use it! That said, Vandy for example has an extremely limited amount of funding and they make it nearly impossible to graduate in three years without summer courses (which you almost always have to pay for out of pocket). I heard horror stories of the majority of the Div. School student body graduating with 60k+ in student loans from doing an M.Div there. 

[GradSchoolTruther]

I noticed MA students at Syracuse can either get university fellowships or a tuition waiver. Guessing the waiver is more common. Also think Syracuse is an outlier in offering fellowships to master's students, since that would be a pretty good deal to not have any service requirements.