Kevin McCormally: I am Kevin McCormally of Kiplingers; I am here with Janet Bodnar, Deputy Editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine to talk about paying for graduate school.
Janet, there are so many stories about kids getting out of undergraduate school burdened with debt, how can any of them afford to pay for a Masters or a PhD?
Janet Bodnar: Well believe it or not, Kevin, there really is a lot of free money available for graduate school if kids know how to apply and where to look.
Kevin McCormally: Did you say free money?
Janet Bodnar: I said free money; a lot of the aid that is available for grad school is in the form of grants or fellowships which comes with no strings attached. You can also apply for assistanceships, which require you to do some work in return for your money, but, hey that is better than a loan.
Kevin McCormally: How do you do this, how do you get these free money?
Janet Bodnar: Well it is competitive, but there are ways that you can improve your chances. Now the one thing you should know is that unlike undergraduate school where the money is doled out by the school itself, graduate aid is usually given out by the department to which you apply. So you have to zero in on your school, a department that would really want you and start lobbying that department a year in advance of when you want to start attending. So that you are telling them why they want you and why you would be a good candidate?
Kevin McCormally: What are the schools looking at when they are looking at the student who is lobbying them for this free money?
Janet Bodnar: Well they are looking at, for your GPA, what that is; they are looking for the reputation of your undergraduate school; they are looking at other extra things that you might have done. And there are things, if your GPA is not as high as you would like there are other things that you can highlight - a job that you may have done; travel that you may have done; research that you may have done that you want to highlight that does not appear on your resume or that you really want to pump up.
Kevin McCormally: What about folks who want to go after a Doctorate that must be really expensive?
Janet Bodnar: That is really expensive; yes it is, but even in that case there is assistance available. Many PhD Programs will support you for up to four years while you are in pursuit of that degree.
Kevin McCormally: That is pretty smart advice, Janet, thanks you.
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