Funding through the military ?

[columbia09]

Hey all. My friend is in the Air Force Reserves and they're giving him a lot  of money for grad school. He wants to know if schools that won't accept you without funding will see this as a form of funding? I know if you come in with your own funding then your chances of getting in are 1,000x better, I mean why not you're giving the school money. So does this happen or does it depend on the school. 

[GeoDUDE!]

I'm sure it does help.... I haven't met many people from the military interested in geosciences: more engineering disciplines. The best way to go about this is ask the individual schools, such as the head of the graduate program or the person he is interested in working with. 

19 hours ago, columbia09 said:

I mean why not you're giving the school money. 

The reason why they wouldn't accept a student with their own money is because some programs have a reputation and don't want 1) weaker students getting a degree from their program and 2) students to fail in their program.  This is why there is also a qualifying exam for PhD students: the department/university has a standard in which they allow students to progress into a degree and its designed to weed out the ones who aren't up to that standard. Programs only get better by having their students succeed AFTER they graduate. 

Most departments that are worth going to want money, but they aren't so strapped for cash that they would change their standard for the students they accept. Where funding helps is when the POI/Department doesn't have funding for you but you meet the standards of a typical incoming student. 

Many of the students I've seen come in with their own funding have money from competitive fellowships: NSF, NASA, Hertz. Getting those fellowships require a stellar academic record and a stellar written proposal. People who get into the top programs get denied those fellowships all the time. For someone who has won that, getting in to a program they would have otherwise been rejected is more likely a funding issue on the department and not a rejection of the student them self.

Edited May 28, 2016 by GeoDUDE!

[TakeruK]

In addition, money is not the only resource that graduate students cost. It takes a lot of people's time (especially your advisor's time) to train a graduate student. At more prestigious schools with lots of money, this could even be the main limiter in how many students they accept. So, having your own funding is a good thing but it doesn't guarantee anything.

[Usmivka]

According to http://www.military.com/education/money-for-school/reserve-tuition-assistance.html, your friend's support from the reserve is maximum $4500 a year, limited to tuition. The limitations also specify masters degrees, with no mention of doctoral degrees, so I think it probably is limited to no more than 2 years (though I don't know that for sure on 5 minutes of googling). Grad school tuition plus stipend for a single student here is nearly $100k. If I was at an equivalent state research school, that would be a bit under $50k a year. Plus whatever research expenses you may have (say another $10k a year). And another couple thousand for medical/dental, if your school covers that. So I think the tuition assistance is negligible compared to the total cost (7.5% or less for a masters, much less for a PhD) . The tuition assistance might be a nice little bonus for the school after they've accepted students, but I can't see it making any difference in the decision making process for who to admit.

By comparison, the NSF GRFP provides ~35k in stipend/yr, for three 3rs, and no tuition. The NDSEG provides ~$32k in stipend/yr, plus a medical allowance, plus full tuition costs, however high those might be (again, 3 yrs). That is the sort of external funding that makes a difference to the total cost. So your friend is hopefully applying for these!

Edited May 31, 2016 by Usmivka