Graduate School Savings Opportunities

How would you like to get your masters or doctorate degree for free? Even half off would be a great savings opportunity. Every year there are many students taking advantage of these opportunities, but you have to investigate them early and do your preparation work upfront to save the most.

For those students that need to, or desire to get a masters or doctorate degree to enhance their career choices, there are a few ways to get help with the rising costs associated with graduate school. These five programs regularly pay for a big portion of graduate school expenses for those that are clever enough to take advantage of them.

But you need to begin investigating these programs before you get to graduate school. Start looking into these programs about 12 to 16 months before graduation. Your early preparation could be the difference between paying nothing... or paying one hundred percent of the cost.

Graduate Degree Savings Opportunities:

1. Graduate Assistant Positions: These usually will pay for tuition and may even include books, on campus housing and meals. In many cases these positions also offer a small paycheck in addition to the college costs. Depending on the school, your job could entail working as an undergraduate supervisor, assistant coach, research assistant or many other support roles that the college needs filled. Either way, it is a great opportunity to save money and further your education.

2. Special Areas Of Study: There are specific programs that are provided government funding to entice students to pursue a career in this field. These usually have high demand for qualified applicants but a shortage in the supply of recent graduates to fill the positions. Past funding opportunities have included alternative energy, Arabic translation, math and science teachers and several disciplines of engineering. These programs offer to pay 50 percent to 100 percent of your tuition and fees just for completing your graduate studies in the field.

3. Employer Sponsored Programs: Many corporations throughout the United States stay in business

because they hire the best and the brightest employees that they can find.This may include taking recent college graduates and offering to pay for their graduates studies while working for the company. These programs usually offer to reimburse your tuition, books and fees upon satisfactory completion of the required classwork. If your company offers a program like this, take advantage of it.

4. Fellowships and Grants: There are many types of fellowships available to grad students. There are institutional fellowships, federally funded portable fellowships and portable fellowships from independent organizations. These are usually awarded based on academic merit and are similar to undergraduate scholarships. They never require repayment as long as satisfactory progress is made or you maintain good grades.

5. Professor Requested Research Assistant Programs: These are very subjective programs where a specific professor has been provided with a discretionary budget to be used as he or she sees fit. These will usually be offered to a professor's favorite students, so it behooves you to figure out what they are looking for before you apply. You will be required to support the professors efforts in return for tuition, room and board and in some cases a small paycheck.

In Summary: With costs for college rising at a rate faster than inflation and graduate school costs even higher, students can use all the financial help they can get. Any one of the above programs can save tens of thousands of dollars and help to reduce the need for massive student loan debt upon graduation.