Aid for grad school comes in three basic forms: loans, grants and scholarships. Loans must be repaid, but grants and scholarships are essentially free money. There are effective ways to find both grants and scholarships for graduate school.
Scholarships for Grad School
Scholarships are also divided into two categories: need-based, which considers your financial situation, and merit-based, which evaluates your academic and professional record. For graduate programs, merit-based scholarships are the most common. Check general scholarships websites like Fastweb.com and Scholarsite.com. Also, many universities offer useful scholarship listings, like Cornell University (gradschool.cornell.edu) and the University of New Hampshire (gradschool.unh.edu).
If you are currently in school, check with your academic advisor, who may be able to point you toward local or school-specific aid. If you have been accepted to a graduate-degree program but have not started, the financial aid office at your new school will likely be a good source of information.
General Grants for Grad School
Grants are also two-fold: ones for students in general, and ones created for a particular course of study, like education or engineering. The first step for general grants is the federal government, which evaluates your background and need through the FAFSA, or free application for federal student aid. The United States' largest source of grants, the Pell Grant, is not available to graduate students, but many other resources may be. The California government also offers a great resource to its residents and students at the California Student Aid Commission (csac.ca.gov).
Other resources include the Ford Foundation's Diversity Fellowship program for minorities (sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/fellowships); the American Indian Graduate Graduate Center, which provides aid to students of American Indian and Alaska Native students (aigc.com); and the American Association of University Women fellowships (aauw.org/education/fga/fellowships_grants/index.cfm).
Specific Grants for Grad School
Whatever you would like to study, there is probably a special grant program out there. For graduate school, grant programs often require a continuous commitment and involvement in the sponsoring organization and/or research in your particular field.
Students wishing to pursue education may be interested in the TEACH Grant program from the U.S. Department of Education. In exchange for four academic years of service to a low-income public school, a grant of up to $4,000 is given.
Language and Math Grants
If you are fluent in another language, the Language Flagship Fellowships may be for you. The program is sponsored by the National Security Education Program and offers a generous support package for people enrolled in a master's program that supports flagship fellows.
Math and engineering whizzes are encouraged to apply for the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, sponsored by the American Association for Engineering Education and the U.S. Department of Defense. The program is designed to support Americans who wish to be trained at the Ph.D. level in disciplines that are important to the U.S. military; in exchange, participants receive funds from the Department of Defense for school.
Health Profession Grants
The health profession is also robust with grant possibilities for masters' and Ph.D. candidates. Two programs offering grants in this arena are the Health Resources and Services Administration's scholarship programs and the National Health Services Corps scholarship.
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