Texas State University Funding

[s3raph1m]

Anyone here going to Texas State University for their MA that could tell me what the funding situation is like? I've got a really sweet deal on housing with a friend (1 bedroom house, $325 a month for each of us, utilities included, and it's a 10 minute walk from campus!). My rent and utilities are going to be a total of $3,900 per year and I won't need to own a car since I'm such a short walk from campus and downtown San Marcos. It seems like this *could* be great, but the program cost is still $3,626 per semester (as of fall 2016) for a 9 credit hour graduate student and could still require me to take out a lot of loans if the funding situation isn't a good one. I have substantial undergrad loan debt from going to a small LAC, so I'm trying to avoid taking out anymore for grad school. What are the chances that I could fund my MA here without student loans?

[squirrelbones]

Hey, fellow bone kid!

I admit that I am an old fogey who graduated from Texas State years ago, so take what I have to say with a grain of salt, because the department has grown substantially since then. There may be many more funding opportunities now, especially as the department has had an influx of research grants. I would contact your advisor, the department, and financial aid and ask, ask, ask. If you haven't already, express interest in an assistantship.

When I attended, funding was non-existent and my thesis was even self-funded. Most students in my class, I'd say, had a bill of about 30k or more by the end of the program. This can be reduced through assistantships and scholarships, although my assistantship was not great (~$500/month). Plan ahead and research extensively. Your living situation sounds great, but know that (at least for students in the far flung past) graduating without student loans was fairly slim at Texas State. I knew grad students that had 2nd or 3rd jobs outside of the program, but they did not graduate in 2 years. Also, do yourself a favor and volunteer/work your butt off in the labs (the facility, GEFARL, CAS, etc.), as much as humanly possible. I've known students that really screwed themselves, and their careers, over by snubbing lab and volunteer work. Good luck!

[bioarch_fan]

It's very rare to find a funded MA anywhere in the States. I'm in one of the few programs that actually funds most of their MA students. One of our professors actually left last year and went to Texas State, so he might have been able to bring some of his grants with him (though I've heard that it's very hard to take any type of funding with you to another university unless previously negotiated). So yes, talk to all of your POIs now and ask them about funding. They'll tell you upfront if you could possibly be funded in their program. If not, then you can also ask around at other departments that take on GAs. Our ITS takes on GAs each year and 2 of our MA students, both of who are in their 3rd year (it's a 3 year MA program with all of the requirements), worked there. So it's worth a shot to check out other departments, both academic and educational (ITS, library, etc.).