HOW TO PAY FOR YOUR GRADUATE DEGREE

WRITING BY ANNA BAKER & ART BY JUANA GARCIA

Become a teaching or research assistant

One way to shave off the cost of graduate school is to become a graduate assistant. Often these programs have graduate students teach a class, do research or other duties related to the department they’re working under for a stipend. The compensation varies from school to school, but this is a way that a lot of graduate students can pay for their studies and gain career-related experience. In fact, most of us have probably taken a class assisted by a graduate student before.

Find a one-year program

If you’re looking to get an M.A. for a cost efficient price, you might want to look in to a oneyear master’s program. One-year programs are very fast paced, but they can save you money since they are only one year of classes. Tuition aside, that’s also one less year of having to pay for housing as well. Often these programs are online too, which shaves off the cost even more.

Work before or during your education

One way to pay for graduate school is to take a gap year or two to work in between undergraduate and graduate school. Depending on your area of study and previous experience, you may be able to get a job in your industry with your B.A. Though your salary might not allow you to pay for graduate school fully, it can at least account for a considerable amount of the expenses.

There are also plenty of graduate students that work full or parttime jobs while they’re pursuing their graduate degrees. Though it won’t be easy, there are plenty of grad school programs that are designed for working professionals to be able to fit them into their schedules through online, evening or weekend classes.

Scholarships

Just like in your time as an undergraduate student, there are plenty of scholarships available for graduate students. Start researching scholarships for graduate students in your field or ones that are sponsored by the department you’re applying to. Some schools are looking to draw students to their graduate programs, so there might be a need-based scholarship sponsored by the university you’re applying for.

There are many scholarship search engines like Gograd, Unigo, Fastweb, and Scholarship America. If attend the University of Houston, the ScholarshipUniverse portal is filled with options.

Try looking for niche scholarships outside of your university that you can apply for as well. For example, if you’re a part of a professional organization for your field of study, such as the American Society for Civil Engineers or Association of American Educators, the organizations might sponsor certain scholarships.

If you’re interested in research for your field, look up research fellowships which can subsidize the costs of tuition in exchange for the recipient to contribute to research in their field. Fellowships can even extend beyond just a master’s degree. There are fellowships for medical professionals wishing to receive additional training, and people who just completed doctorates but still want to continue researching.