Do you often find yourself daydreaming about earning an advanced degree in a field you’re passionate about, only to dismiss the possibility immediately because you just feel too broke?
You may be surprised to learn that a quality graduate education may be more affordable than you think! With the right combination of creativity, hard work, and determination, you’ll be well on your way to overcoming the financial challenges of graduate school.
To get you started, we’ve come up with a few innovative suggestions that may help you to fund your graduate education.
Be creative! There are scholarships available for literally everything.
Do you really, really like Star Trek? Do you have a detailed survival plan for the zombie apocalypse? Just because you're in your twenties or thirties, it doesn't mean you can't win scholarship money for unusual and sometimes silly scholarships.
Various websites, such as scholarships.com and fastweb, have been created in recent years to help cash-strapped prospective students discover scholarships that they may be eligible for. One useful piece of advice is to look for smaller local awards. The applicant pools for these will be much smaller than those for more well-known scholarships, so you’ll have a pretty good chance at winning some money.
Be proactive! Consider working as a graduate assistant.
A graduate assistantship is a productive way to make ends meet while you’re working towards your degree. As a full-time graduate assistant at West Virginia University, you’ll work only 20 hours a week while receiving a bimonthly stipend and a tuition waiver. In addition, you’ll even receive health insurance.
Graduate assistantships can also be beneficial in that they’ll help you gain practical work experience in your field of study and put you in the position to make valuable connections with the faculty and with other students. Both of these factors are sure to help you land a job as soon as you graduate!
Be entrepreneurial! Start a side hustle.
If you have a knack for fixing computers, you enjoy making homemade jewelry, or you tend to be the designated baker when a friend’s birthday comes around, you should think about monetizing your skills. It can be a game-changer to realize that working while in graduate school doesn’t necessarily mean long hours of tedium at a boring job.
Even if you haven’t been taking advantage of them so far, it’s more than likely that you have unique and profitable talents. Whether your interests lie in art, car repair, or writing, you may find that it’s surprisingly easy to earn money doing what you enjoy. Get serious about your hobbies and make some extra cash!
Be strategic! Think twice before quitting your current job.
Although working as a graduate assistant or starting your own small business are both great options for working while in grad school, you can also see if your current employer is willing to help pay for your degree.
Many companies offer partial tuition reimbursement for graduate school. Particularly if you think the knowledge and skills you’ll gain in your grad degree are relevant to your current job, it may be worth asking your employer about your company’s tuition reimbursement policies.
At West Virginia University, we want to ensure that your concerns surrounding financing graduate school don’t prevent you from achieving your academic goals. For more in-depth information and advice, contact our financial aid services!
Need additional help financing your graduate degree? Check out our digital resource — A Guide to Financing Graduate School — and let us help you figure out how to fund your graduate education!
