financial aid and grad school...�

[bettyandbob]

So, dh finally did the FAFSA this year (ds will be a senior in college and dd will be a freshman). 

 

Lets not get into why he refused to file it previous years, except he was convinced we would qualify for only loans. We just got a notice (I know rather late) that ds is getting a substantial amount of aid. dd got more. Dh did not file it until June. dh has deep seeded "don't ask for help" issues...this is a problem on another front for us with our youngest who has disabilities, however...

 

 

Anyway, both these kids want to go to grad school. dd specifically wants to go to PT school. ds interests are not in STEM so he can't count on tuition free research programs. 

 

do grad students qualify for this kind of grant assistance. We have told them we can offer no help for grad school, except if they happen to attend a school near home and need a room for free. I don't see good options for their particular interests near our home so that won't help. 

 

 

(sidenote, I think dh is thinking about getting this stuff together for next year much earlier)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hopskipjump]

If, by PT school, you mean Physical Therapy (if not, you won't need to bother reading the rest of what I've written, lol!) - there are some options for grad school. You'll of course need to fact-check my words here... I'm going on memory from research done several months ago. :D

 

Clemson (I think it's Clemson...) has an in-state deal for Physical Therapy. If you get the degree there, you can apply to have the state pay for the last two years of grad school (and the student has to work for the school system for two years after graduating). Baylor has an arrangement with the Army - they pay for your grad school tuition in return for 3 years working for the Army.

 

There were other schools with varying degrees of "assistance" - but those are the two I am recalling at this moment.

 

Some schools offer graduate scholarships to undergrads who continue their studies there (or transfer) - but they are individually based, and, in most cases, competitive. That's about all the help I can give you about those, though. :)

 

At least the FAFSA/assistance will help quite a bit for your dd's undergrad years!!! :hurray:

[bettyandbob]

Yes. Physical Therapy for my dd. I have suspected there are payback/loan forgiveness programs dd could get (like the Baylor program).

 

I'm more worried about ds.

[G5052]

It really varies by school and major. Some graduate programs have more paid research or teaching assistants than others. If you major in something with a shortage of workers, there also may be opportunities with certain employers. In my state, STEM teachers can get their graduate program paid if they teach in certain school districts afterwards. Where I'm from, most of the medical fields have state programs where they do the same if you work in state clinics for a certain number of years.

 

And yes, my recommendation is to always do the FAFSA unless the school says it's absolutely not required. My son is at a school that has primarily need-based institutional scholarships. But I slog through the FAFSA every year because in order to get the merit scholarships, you have to prove that you don't qualify for the need-based. The first year he got one of the best freshmen scholarships, and then this year he got even a better one that covers nearly all of his tuition.

[Crimson Wife]

DPT programs may offer opportunities to be a TA in undergraduate-level pre-req courses in exchange for reduced tuition. Most speech pathology programs offer at least a few of those and I would imagine that PT is the same. She'd have to check with the programs she's considering to find out whether or not that is a possibility.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

If your ds picks the right school he could be a TA.  I was a TA for chemistry labs, dh taught computer science, and a friend taught English.