Graduate Financial Aid

Most graduate students are waiting for their award letters to arrive, if they haven’t already. Once award letters come in, it becomes time to apply for a Stafford, Graduate PLUS, Graduate Private loan and more. However, there are many scholarship options available now to students. While it is more effort on the student’s part to be proactive and apply, it’s free money! There are scholarships out there for just about everything! Take a few minutes to search this site, look for fellowships in your field, teaching assistant positions - there are many great ways to get money to pay for your education!

This past July 1st, 2006 - the US Dep’t of Education created a new loan geared towards students continuing on after undergraduate school. The Graduate Plus Loan is the second non-need based federal student loan (the Parent Plus Loan was the first). Since the demand for graduate students has increased in the past 10 years, so has the cost for tuition. Typically, a stafford loan for grad school would not come close to covering tuition and living expenses, so now the student can apply for the Graduate Plus Loan to cover the difference. The approval process for the loan is not as stringent as the parent plus loan approval. As long as the applicant does not have any delinquent accounts on their credit history they are usually approved for this loan. If you have Federal loans from undergraduate school as well, they can all be rolled together once you are finished with school, since they all share the same Federal status. This will be so helpful once you finally do finish school to have just one payment. From my experience, with any loan you apply for, it is best to do your research, and pick a loan that will suffice your needs.

Helpful Sites

Graduate Loans
Alternative Student Loans
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