Which criminal justice masters program: American, Rutgers, or NAU?

[saltyseathings]

I was *thrilled* to have gotten into all three schools I applied to for my master's, but after spending a month agonizing over the decision, I still don't know where to go.

I'm obsessed with the wrongful convictions, particularly the prosecutorial misconduct that can contribute to them, and my goal is to eventually work on policy reform for the government, a high-profile NGO, or a think tank. (Sidenote: I would like to eventually start my own NGO one day that works with prosecutors and police to change the culture of "win at all costs" from the inside out, in case there are any like-minders out there...)

AU's program is most aligned with my interests (policy reform, social justice, jurisprudence) and the professor with whom I am dying to work is there. They offered me a $10k tuition remission for the year, which I appreciated! However, both the cost of living in DC and AU's tuition are *expensive*, almost prohibitively so. Tuition is something like $40k per year, and I am not in a position to take out loans since I still have considerable undergrad debt. I called them to ask for more money or the possibility of an assistantship, assuming that this was an ok thing to do, and the financial aid guy said rather incredulously, "Very few people get offered ANY scholarship money. The fact that your department offered you $10k for next year means they see something in you. You got lucky. Most people get nothing and do all loans." Gulp.

Rutger's offered $7k off of the 2016 year's tuition, with no stipend or assistantship, but with the promise of helping me find great research opportunities upon arrival. The cost of living in Newark seems fairly reasonable, but I would still need to take out lots of loans to go there. I am reluctant to write this school off, both because of their connections with NYC-area organizations that I would love to intern with/work for (ie the VERA Institute, the Innocence Project), but also because they have been extremely kind and persistent with me via e-mail - Shadd Maruna reached out to personally thank me for my thoughtful SOP. Maybe he does that for everyone they accept, but I found it touching, if surprising (I thought I fit the least with their program of all the ones I applied to). The MA Program Director kindly spent a half hour with me on the phone answering all of my questions about post-graduate opportunities and he finally asked me, "What would we need to do to have you come here?" When I asked about being fully-funded, he said that unfortunately, they only offer full-funding to one master's student per year, so that isn't possible. All their funding goes to PhD students.

NAU was my third choice, but there is a professor there of some (?) renown who does do wrongful conviction stuff. Flagstaff is beautiful and is fairly reasonably priced, but it's obviously not a school with a lot of prestige. However, they have also courted me fairly aggressively, and after a few back and forths about my financial situation, they offered to (essentially) fully fund me - tuition would cost me about $4,500 for the year, and they've offered a graduate assistantship position with a $5,000 per year stipend for 10 hours per week of work. My best friend (who is finishing up his PhD in Crim from Cincinnati, so I trust him!) told me that this is an amazing offer, and I'd be a fool not to take it.

And yet, I can't decide. I keep replaying two competing pieces of advice I received over the months of preparing my applications:

1) Never pay for your own master's degree. (NAU)

2) Go to the best school you can get into. (American?)

Are these two suggestions mutually exclusive, or did people mean to only go to the best AND fully-funded school that you can get into?

I can't shake the feeling that accepting the NAU offer would be cutting myself off from the amazing connections I might make at the two East coast schools - and the fact that American's program so completely fits my interests and goals to work on serious policy reform is extremely hard to let go of.

I need to make a decision fast, because I've already prolonged it a bit, and I want to give wait-listed people a chance to be accepted.

To summarize:

American = great fit = $120k in loans total = great connections = little fish in a big pond = lots of strong competition for good internships = likely a good job out of school doing something with policy reform in the DC- or NYC-area

Rutgers = so-so fit = $100k in loans total = great connections = little fish in a medium sized pond? = abundance of good research opportunities and internships = likely a good job out of school doing something with policy reform in the DC- or NYC-area

NAU = good fit = maybe $10k in loans total = unknown quality of their connections = big fish in a small pond = one good internship available with the AZ legislature or the Supreme Court = likely need to build an impressive CV after graduation either in the AZ-area or on the West coast, in order to eventually (hopefully) get a good job doing policy reform in the DC- or NYC-area.

Does anyone have any thoughts or guidance? Any feedback will be most appreciated.

[rising_star]

None of the above. Even the NAU offer will require you to take out loans and, quite frankly, a stipend of $5000 per year for 10 hours of work per week is absurdly low. Add in the cost of health insurance and housing and you're look at more than $10K total in loans because it'll probably be more like $10K per year. 

IMO, you're better off working at one of these nonprofits or in state government for a few years to build up your credentials and then applying directly to PhD programs in the future.

[GradSchoolTruther]

Fully funded means you don't pay tuition and you get a fellowship or 20-hour-per-week assistantship.

As for Rutger's promising great research opportunities, take that with a grain of salt.

Dont take out $100k in loans for a master's. You'd have to take out private loans, which is a bad idea.

[Neist]

1 hour ago, GradSchoolTruther said:

Dont take out $100k in loans for a master's. You'd have to take out private loans, which is a bad idea.

I agree with this. Even if you are not completely debt-adverse, but you definitely do not want to take out private loans. Direct loans are fairly flexible with repayment plans, but private loan vendors can be merciless. 

I'd rather amputate my foot than take out private loans for school, and I'm not even all that debt-adverse.