Graduate level Scholarships??

[FinancialWorld]

As some of you already know, I'm basically done with my degree (no "official" confirmation yet). I'm looking towards pursuing an MBA, or some other masters program.

Has anyone had any success with getting graduate level scholarships? I'm up for combining a few together if need be, but would need about $5000-$10,000 worth for what I'm planning to do.

I was checking out some of the information over on degreeinfo forum because there are a lot graduate and PhD seeking people over there, but haven't come up with much yet.

Any ideas?

I'd appreciate any ideas, but, I will not go into debt in any way (which rules out FA).

Thanks,
FW

[burbuja0512]

I didn't look into any scholarships at all for the MBA. With a transcript full of CLEP and DSST's, I am not sure what any of us would be eligible for. Of course it absolutely doesn't hurt to look!

If you don't find anything and you're only going to spend between 5-10k on the masters, you may want to just get a temporary second job and save 100% of what you make if you can't squirrel away money from your current job.

This sounds pretty obvious, and I'm sure you've considered it already, but have you gone through your basic expenses and eliminated everything? DH and I are both studying and we're actually going to drop our DirecTv in a couple months when our contract is up. We don't have time to watch TV anymore and everything we watch is available online anyhow.. it's not a huge savings, but it's 100 bucks or so a month. Cutting things like eating out, cell phone extras, and even the amount of electricity we use has meant big $$ savings. We went solar back in January and now pay next to nothing on our energy bill.

...Anyhow, I know I'm totally not answering your question, just bringing up some ideas. Overall if you can't pick up extra work and you've already cut back on expenses as much as you're able, you may want to evaluate your ROI on the graduate program. If the investment is truly worthwhile, and you can't come up with the money through savings or scholarships, you may seriously want to consider a loan. If you don't anticipate a great ROI for the MBA and just want to do it for fun, you might want to re-consider and hold off for a year or two while you save the money you need.

[PonyGirl93]

I believe graduate level scholarships are extremely competitive and typically offered by the university. For example, I know OSU offers a few graduate scholarships, but they are ludicrously competitive. I haven't done any research on business oriented graduate programs, but when I was perusing the psychology dept. website they have information about full tuition coverage if you Teacher Assist or Research Assist, not sure if some schools would have a similar program for business?

Good luck!

[marianne202]

Boy, I sure wish I could have found a scholarship for my grad school but was unable to find one. My school does lock in the tuition and allow me to make payments each term, so that has made it managible. Aside from employer sponsored tuition reimbursement I don't know of anything else. Good luck and please share if you find a program for grad credit.

[ryoder]

Geezer's son got a scholarship to FSU I think for computer science and his BA CS was from TESC so I think there was a lot of testing out in that degree.

[skyfall123]

Geezer's son got a scholarship to FSU I think for computer science and his BA CS was from TESC so I think there was a lot of testing out in that degree.

Ryan he actually didn't test out of many credits. The online degree made sense because he was working full time. What he really wanted was to get into a good B&M Masters CS program. He is currently a very happy camper. The TESC BA CS was well worth it!

Here is what I've learned and why I think FW is smart for asking the question. I didn't realize that Research colleges like FSU have lots of grant money. All or almost all grad schools have grants for Teachers Assistants. The FSU Computer Science department alone has dozens of grants. Many of these grants include stipends for graduate Research assistants. 90% of the Graduate students in the CS department are funded. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant my son is getting free tuition and a stipend...combined its worth a lot of $$. FSU offers a general Computer Literacy course to around 2400 students each semester. He is one of many TA's for those courses. The course covers computer basics and he will likely assist in grading papers and answering questions during his scheduled office hours. Plus adding Graduate Teaching Assistant to the resume can't hurt.

My advice to FW is to research every Grad department from every state college to see if any Teaching Assistant positions or other funded positions are available. It might not be for an MBA, but you will probably be surprised by what is actually available if you really look. A year ago I would have said "Good Luck"...today I say "Do your research, there is probably a way to get funded"..... but I would start with state research universities and all the departments, not just business.

[FinancialWorld]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I don't know if universities offer scholarships, or grants etc. for their online programs. !00% online is the rout I'll probably take. I'm starting a finance company with my brother, and all of my saving was used for my undergrad. So I have to be able to find a part time job to bring in some income and start saving. I already work part time, kind of. I work for a company and a few elderly people. This provides me a small, somewhat consistent, and tax free form of income.

I really like what burbuja0512 said. As a finance major, I really need to put my budgeting skills into action I think that I can find some type of part time job, or even something for Saturday's (Sunday is ALWAYS a day of rest for me). This all should be easier because I still live at home, and my dad pays my insurance and stuff (you know, I think I've got it really easy). After this week, I'm going to hunker down like this is a course and really watch how I use my time and money.

If anyone still has any ideas for scholarships that might work for an online program, I'd appreciate it. I'll check into the other ideas that posters have mentioned here.

I've checked out some of those online sites that have tonnes of scholarships, but I wonder if its a time waster and a scam.

Thanks,
FW