306: A Comprehensive Guide to Securing Funding for Master’s Degrees

306: Funding for Master's Degrees: A Comprehensive Guide

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Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: [00:00:00] Dear Yvette I am writing to let you know that you have been accepted into our 2010 MA class for performance studies at NYU I very much enjoyed reading your application and I want to let you know that I am here to answer any questions regarding the department This was a snippet of an email that I received in February 2010 from the Chair of Performance Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts in NYU the late great Professor José Esteban Muñoz This was my dream school y'all and this was my coveted person that I wanted to work with The work of Jose Esteban Muñoz shaped and inspired the work that I eventually later did and completed when I earned my PhD in performance studies at UCLA But something happened clearly that led me [00:01:00] to turning down this opportunity And what came up for me was that despite the excitement and enthusiasm of receiving that long awaited acceptance letter it didn't come with a full funding offer It came with a partial scholarship and that just wasn't enough for me to be able to pay for tuition to pay for my living expenses and even to pay for my moving expenses as someone who was potentially going to move from Southern California to New York City And so funding was a major deciding factor for me in choosing to turn down NYU and to say yes to UCLA which did offer me full funding and this was for a PhD program And because of this I wanted to bring up this highly requested topic [00:02:00] of funding for master's programs And specifically I want to offer you guidance on everything that you need to know to secure as much funding as possible for a master's program

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Welcome

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: to the award winning Grad School Femtoring Podcast, the place for first gen BIPOCs to listen in on inclusive grad school stories and learn about personal development and productivity tips. This is Dr. Yvette Martinez-Vu, a certified coach, consultant, and author, and I will be serving as your femtor, providing you with insider knowledge to help you reach your personal and professional goals.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: [00:03:00] Welcome back everyone to another episode of the grad school femtoring podcast This is your host Dr Yvette I wanted to bring up this example of me in my early 20s and I got this long awaited acceptance letter and it was for my dream program was a master's program performance studies in New York city I had envisioned moving to New York city and watching all these shows and studying theater and hanging out with cool performance studies scholars. That dream did not become a reality. And a lot of it had to do with funding I actually didn't know then what I know now about how you can tap into a lot of different sources of funding I didn't know how funding worked and I really didn't think that I could figure out a way to make it work. And I was also unwilling to take on six figures of debt for an advanced degree.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So for today's episode I want to give you the info that I wish that I [00:04:00] had and I want to give you all the info. These are questions that I get all the time from my consulting clients And it's something that I personally don't love spending my one on one time with clients with me lecturing them and giving them information that I know. I believe that information shouldn't be gatekept and that that should be publicly accessible. The work that I do one on one with clients is a work of them actually applying that information to their specific scenarios.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So getting them to actually tap into those funding sources to actually work on those applications to actually reach out and start networking all those things to get them to do things I don't want them to spend their valuable time and my valuable time with me rehashing the same information. So I want you to get this information that other people pay me for because you deserve to have access to it.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Let's start with talking a little bit [00:05:00] more about funding in graduate school So when we think about funding in graduate school usually we break down funding sources by whether or not you are getting admitted to a doctoral program or or a master's program And with master's programs we also account for professional programs. The professional programs includes master's degrees but it also includes certain doctoral programs. By that I mean your JD for law your EdD for education your PsyD for psychology and so forth.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And typically you're expected to receive more funding for doctorate programs especially PhD programs than you would for master's programs and especially the more professional master's programs. Why is this the case Many of us have heard this before that [00:06:00] with the professional programs those tend to be the programs that keep the departments afloat financially whereas with the PhD programs these are programs where they might have smaller cohorts and they might have dedicated pockets of funding including funding within their department or funding within the university to pay for their doctoral students especially their PhD students. And the expectation is that you are probably going to make a much higher salary with a master's degree that's a professional degree than you would with a PhD. It's assuming that and this is all assumptions right It's not necessarily the truth or the actual outcome of what happens with folks who get master's degree. But again working with the assumption that you'll graduate you'll have access to tap into jobs with higher salaries and you'll be able to pay off any [00:07:00] debt that you accrue in your master's program

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And so again all of this to say typically what is the norm is that PhD students get more funding and have more opportunities to have a full funding offer. And by that it means that you get a multi year funding package and every year you get some sort of funding. Some of it might be fellowship funding where you're paid to do the work of a scholar to read and write and take classes et cetera. And other types of funding may include teaching assistantships where you are working a set number of hours usually it's 50 percent time or 20 hours a week assisting a professor who's teaching a course you might be grading you might be facilitating discussion sections et cetera And then also some PhD students will get access to becoming a [00:08:00] research assistant. And for that the role really varies but you're essentially helping a professor on their research And in some cases sometimes professors allow you to help them with their research and also do some work that's going to help support your research as well. In any case there's a lot more opportunities for funding within PhD programs.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So what do you do as a master's student? Because just like someone in a PhD program you get charged tuition you have to pay for your living expenses and cost of living varies widely And unfortunately the funding that you get even when they're full funding offers tends to be pretty similar across the board no matter what the cost of living is which makes it harder to make ends meet If you are a student living in a high cost of living area. You might also have expenses that you hadn't thought about that are considered hidden costs [00:09:00] like the costs of research expenses, the cost of presenting and attending and traveling to national conferences, the cost of technology and other materials. And also like I mentioned a lot of us move to go to graduate school. So the cost of relocation can also add up. And this is not to say that that's a one time thing because a lot of academics move multiple times. So where do you find your funding for master's programs. I will tell you this a lot of times when I've seen students who apply to master's programs and get in they either get partial funding or no funding. When it's partial funding It's usually some sort of scholarship, sometimes it's merit based, sometimes it's a diversity scholarship, sometimes it's income based. It really depends on what's available within that department [00:10:00] And then outside of that you might be able to apply to other opportunities that may be available within the campus. And even you may be able to apply to external scholarships and fellowships.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So here's the thing you You have to get really creative and proactive about applying for funding sources if you want a chance at having a fully funded master's program. Let me say it again, you have to be really really proactive and you have to stay on top of applying to scholarships and fellowships regularly if you want to get as close to having a fully funded master's program as possible. That is what I've noticed It's the students that hustle, it's the students that treat applying for funding as a separate job, it's the folks who they don't give up. They just keep [00:11:00] applying to opportunities and they remind themselves that they're going to find a way to make it work. They're the ones that end up with little to no debt with the master's program. And even saying that out loud for me is hard because I know that a lot of us are completely tapped out like we're burnt out we have limited resources and so to say hold up I just got into a master's program and now you're telling me that I have to take on a part time job which is the job of applying for funding if I want to make sure that I'm okay financially after this master's program ends? Yes I'm saying that but I'm letting you know where to search for these opportunities so that way you're not starting from scratch.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So how can you find these funding sources. One is check within your department to [00:12:00] see if there are any scholarships or fellowships that you can apply for that you are eligible for. Two, check within your cohort cohorts above you, anyone who has completed your program see if they have their CVs publicly available and find out what scholarships or fellowships they got awarded because chances are you may also be eligible for the same scholarships and fellowships. Three look beyond your department to your greater campus community what scholarships and fellowships are available through graduate division or through different centers. For instance in my case I qualified to apply for a scholarship through the center for the study of women. And so because I qualified I applied and that gave me a scholarship I can't remember if it was 2K or 5K but it was a certain amount that I received to help offset my research expenses. [00:13:00] So all of this to say that you might be able to find some other smaller sources of funding within the greater university.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Aside from thinking about scholarships and fellowships from your campus you can also look to forms of employment available through your campus. Can you become a TA as a master's student? Because if you can if you are qualified enough to be a TA for a specific type of discipline it could be outside of your master's program too then you can teach and then usually these positions come with a tuition remission or they pay for your tuition so you don't have to pay for that or have that's going to get covered for you which is great. Similarly with research assistantships see if that's even a possibility for a master's student. That's less common I will say that but keep that in mind that it doesn't hurt to ask.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Another thing too [00:14:00] because when I was a grad student even though I had full funding it wasn't enough for me to support my family so I was always on the hunt for new sources of funding. And so another thing that I recommend is to find on campus sources of employment because some jobs available to graduate students whether you're a master's student or a PhD student will also come with waiving your tuition fees or paying your tuition fees. So again that's going to save you a lot of money if you can find any opportunity that waives those fees for you. So those are a couple of ideas for on campus sources of funding.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Now let's think about external or off campus sources of funding. There are larger foundations that might have grants or fellowships that you can apply for. The one that always comes to mind when I say this is the National Science Foundation [00:15:00] Graduate Research Fellowships Program because I know a number of people who have received it and that one is open to master's students as well. And it provides you with three years of funding which is great because for most master's students that pays for their entire master's degree. So look to see if there are other sources of fellowships those those usually come with more funding, grants those are usually smaller pockets of funding that are tied to a specific research project, and even scholarships. Those tend to be the smallest pockets of funding but they are money that's given to you just for you to use as you see fit and there's no expectation of you having to complete a specific research project to get it. So look for fellowships, look for grants, and look for scholarships.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Now let's go [00:16:00] into a little bit more detail about the internal versus the external sources of funding. So when you're looking at internal sources of funding aside from checking your department, aside from checking graduate division, go and have a conversation with the financial aid office. I know financial aid typically works with undergrads but it doesn't hurt to talk to them because they might be tapped into other sources of funding for graduate students that you might not know. Please also talk to other students in your program, cohorts above you or even alumni. Again they will have the most knowledge about how to make things work financially.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Another thing too that comes up that sometimes is a necessary thing to do to make ends meet is that a lot of master's students that I've worked with have also had to work either part time [00:17:00] or full time while they were a graduate student and this is something that if you haven't yet applied to graduate school you can ask this question to either graduate students or professors you're meeting about how do they support working professionals to see if this department is supportive of folks who do have to work part time or full time because I will tell you this. Not every graduate program supports you working. I was often discouraged from working part time and I had multiple part time jobs most of the time because I had to make ends meet. And I wish I would have known that in advance whether or not my department was going to be supportive of that. So just be on the lookout for part time or even full time work opportunities if you believe that's going to be the thing that's going to help you to make ends meet and see how supportive the programs you're looking to apply to are of folks who are working [00:18:00] professionals.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Now thinking about diving deeper on the external funding opportunities another thing that I think folks don't realize about graduate students is that there are scholarships available for graduate students that are random scholarships just like the scholarships that you hear about for college students these are also available for graduate students. It's just harder to find them. So the same techniques apply to find scholarships both for college and for grad school in that you're still having to check a lot of big scholarship databases to see which of them and find a way to filter which of them are for graduate students.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: It is more work in that it is harder to find scholarships for graduate students but please know that it does happen. How do I know this I know this because I personally [00:19:00] worked for a scholarship resource center for several years while I was at UCLA and we had graduate students who would often come in and we would give them a handout of different funding opportunities for graduate students. And I remember folks would come in to get feedback on their essays when they were applying for scholarships. I remember one student applying for a Cafe Bustelo scholarship. She was a graduate student, I can't remember what discipline, I think it was in a humanities discipline but I just I know she definitely wasn't in a STEM field and she applied she got some feedback from us and lo and behold a little while later came back to the office letting us know that she got the scholarship a random Cafe Bustelo scholarship for a master's degree student. All of this to say that you can find them. It's more work but you can find them.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And with when you're searching for scholarships you really want to think [00:20:00] about the key terms that work for you. So think about your identity markers. Think about what makes you unique. Think about your location. Think about anything that you think that would allow you to qualify for certain scholarships because there's scholarships for everything. There are scholarships for left handed people. There are scholarships for people from specific states. There are scholarships for people of specific race and ethnicities. There are scholarships for people specific income brackets. And so you want to niche down and figure out well what are my keywords that apply to me. So in my case I would think scholarships for Latinas, scholarships for children of immigrants, scholarships for first gen students, scholarships for neurodivergent students, scholarships for you know and so on because I know that I would fit those niche keywords. So that's kind of the best tip that I can give you when you're searching for [00:21:00] scholarships is to identify and focus on those key words when you're going through these databases or doing these long Google searches.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: But I always recommend try to be as strategic as possible. So try to save time by again recognizing what are the most well recognized key terms, which ones which ones are the ones that come up most. And two, talking to people I can't say that enough. Talk to people so that you can tap into those funding opportunities that they recommend for you. And sometimes they're generous enough to share their application materials with you which can give you a leg up in knowing what a strong application looks like and then modeling your application after a very very strong application.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So aside from that another thing I want to mention is that some folks are able to tap into funding opportunities through their employers. So you might be someone [00:22:00] who's coming back to school after having worked full time. If that's the case take a look at your employer and find out do they offer any tuition reimbursement programs? Do they offer any benefits for folks who are going back to school? Are there any incentives? And if so tap into that. Someone I work with actually this is what helped her to get into her doctorate program even though it's a professional doctorate program. Her employer because she's been working for a university for a set amount of time made it so that her graduate program if I remember correctly is getting paid off completely by her department or at the very least they're covering all of her tuition. So I don't know all of the details but I know that there was that incentive by her employer to go back to school and that she at the very least wouldn't be paying the tuition for that. And I [00:23:00] believe she also gets that benefit for her children or some sort of financial benefit for her children to also attend that same university.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So take a look at that. What other reimbursement programs what other incentive programs might be available to you. Now the last thing I'm going to say in terms of funding opportunities I mentioned part time and I also mentioned full time work. And I can't not mention also looking into new and creative ways to make money. And so by that I mean if there's a skill that you have or that you you're willing to learn you can tap into freelance work or contract labor work. You can try to create your own remote work opportunity. I have actually worked with a couple of graduate students and one working professional who I [00:24:00] have hired as either a virtual assistant or as an intern and it worked out really well for us in terms of the agreement of me being able to train them me being able to mentor and femtor them them being able to help me out. Don't discount also opportunities to learn these skills through bartering. If you feel like this is something that someone else can help you with something and you can help them with something so that you can gain the skills you need to make ends meet I just want to mention that.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And it's so funny because the timing is kind of perfect for me to mention this is that I am actively searching for a part time and temporary virtual assistant I'm looking for someone who can help me for a period of three months for five hours a week. The hourly wage is going to be 25 an hour with the opportunity to negotiate for more if you have direct experience with email marketing but in any case [00:25:00] I am looking for someone if you're interested I'm mentioning it here and I also mentioned it in my email newsletter. Why? Because I want to be intentional about working with folks who are already part of my GSF community. So I want to nurture that community I want to work with someone who knows what I'm about already. And if you read my emails one thank you because not a lot of people read emails. And two if you listen to my podcast also thank you. This is long form material, not everybody who clicks play actually gets through to the end. So if this is something that you might be interested in please let me know, shoot me an email, send me a message on whatever platform you have access to and I will get back to you with more details and an application form because yeah I need help.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: So anyway so going back to the reason I even I even mentioned this is don't discount freelance work, [00:26:00] contract work, or creating your own remote work opportunities that can help to supplement your income while you're in a master's program.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: The last thing I need to say is the importance of financial literacy and budgeting. This is incredibly important. Before you say yes to any offer no matter what the funding offer is please make sure that you come up with a financial plan that can include creating a budget to make sure you can actually pay your bills and make ends meet with your income sources, with the funding that you receive, and with the financial expenses that are going to come with starting a master's program to make sure that you have a plan for managing and paying off debt if you anticipate that you might take on some debt eventually.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: And then three just [00:27:00] keep learning more about financial literacy and personal finance because that's going to help you in the long haul. That's going to help to make sure that you're not just okay temporarily for the two three years of your master's program. That's going to make sure that you're okay even beyond that when you're thinking about your first full time job or your next full time job or if you're pivoting as you consider transitioning careers to make sure that you are setting yourself up for financial success. I say all of this from experience I've made some good choices. I've made some not so good choices financially and I've learned all the lessons. Okay no I haven't learned all those lessons. There's still a lot of lessons for me to learn but I am sharing some of the lessons I've learned here with giving you all the insights into how do you find funding for master's programs. And yeah that that last message that I want to share about making [00:28:00] sure that you create your budget you create your financial plan that's probably the most important part of this process because it doesn't matter if you get full funding or no funding if you don't have a plan you might still end up in the negative. So please keep that in mind. Now that's all I wanted to mention. So just to wrap things up I will say this acquiring funding for a master's program is definitely a bigger challenge than getting funding for a PhD program. However it is not impossible if you are creative, if you tap into multiple sources, if you talk to people, and if you make it a point to continuously apply for opportunities, things will come up and things will add up and you will find a way to make it work for you So that's the message for this episode I hope that you found it helpful. And as always I'll talk to you [00:29:00] all next time

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: Thanks so much for listening. If you liked what you heard, here are three ways you can support the show. The first is to make sure you're subscribed and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. The second way is to get your copy of my free resource kit linked in my show notes. This kit includes tools, worksheets, and podcast playlists on all things grad school, productivity, and personal development.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu: The third way to support my show is to follow me on social media. You can find me on Instagram with the handle at gradschoolfemtoring and on LinkedIn by searching my name. Thanks again for listening. And until next time.