How Hard Is it To Go to Grad School for Free/Pay for Grad School?

You should not pay for graduate school. If your qualifications are not sufficient to get you both admission to a good program and full funding via teaching and research assistantships, then you should not go. Very few academic positions available in the US, and not being good enough to get you grad school funded means you’ll likely have almost no chance at landing anything beyond a non-prestigious post-doc once you finish your PhD. You also don’t want to be stuck with debt if you end up bailing with just your masters (only a minority of PhD candidates manage to finish).

Professional school (MBA, JD, MD, DO, PT school, dental school, etc.) is a different story. You’ll almost certainly have to pay for a professional degree and unless you have rich, generous parents odds are very good you’ll need loans to do so. Very little merit based money available at the top programs. It is assumed that you’ll use the degree to get a high paying job to pay off the loans.

Now there is a whole world of cash cow type masters degree programs out there. 9 times out of 10 these are effectively worthless from an ROI perspective. There are exceptions (e.g. Masters of Finance at Princeton), but if it is a non-professional masters, and the university doesn’t fund students, then you should be very wary.

A lot depends on whether it's a master's or PhD program. In most PhD programs you'll hold a funded teaching or research position that covers tuition plus a stipend. I worked as a teaching assistant for my first 2.5 years and made about 18k per year, and now have a half-time teaching and half-time research assistant setup that pays about 22k. No tuition paid out of pocket at any point.

Master's programs are a whole different story - since you're only there for two years in most cases it doesn't make sense for the department to invest in training you to be a TA or RA, so you're typically paying out of pocket.

I'd recommend thinking about what you want to do with the degree, and from there figuring out what program makes sense. I don't know about the sciences, but in the social sciences a PhD is a must for teaching at a college level, but a lot of other positions are only looking for a master's, and might actually be skeptical of someone with a doctoral degree.

The other thing to keep in mind is that a PhD usually takes 5-6 years compared to 2 for a master's. So those extra 3-4 years in a PhD program are years you're not advancing in your professional field. So a PhD is "cheaper" but if it doesn't line you up for what you want to do, then you're just a 30-year-old without the right job qualifications. Bottom line - research what qualifications are expected for the jobs you want and plan your education accordingly.

Oh, and unrelated to school - get a credit card, use it occasionally, and pay the balance off on time. That's not "debt" if you don't carry a balance from month to month, but it's important in building a credit score.

Is it common for TA or Research positions to pay for all of graduate tuition? How difficult is it to obtain a position such as this? I assume professional schools such as PT schools don't have such an option.

Twig Mzungu wrote:

might actually be skeptical of someone with a doctoral degree.

Why is that?

I think the posts above give reasonable advice about graduate school in general, but I don't think they necessarily address your specific goals. If you want to be a physiologist, find a physiologist (preferably one who is fairly recent to the profession) and ask him what schooling he would advise you to pursue to get a job like his. He'll probably have a perspective on the situation that you have never thought of.

Deathly Afraid of Debt wrote:

Is it common for TA or Research positions to pay for all of graduate tuition? How difficult is it to obtain a position such as this? I assume professional schools such as PT schools don't have such an option.

The acceptance package will be tuition is paid for plus the TA , RA, or fellowship stipend. In other words, tuition might cost 20k a year plus a 20k a year stipend so your total package is 40k per year. The stipend is not meant to pay for tuition. It’s for paying rent, food, etc. The stipend is meant to keep you from working elsewhere. They want you to focus on school. They pay you for 20 hours a week of work but you’ll work maybe 4 hours a week if you teach two classes. If you get accepted to any decent PhD program you get this package.

Some MBAs offer tiny RA packages. I know a guy getting $500 a month. But the rest of the tuition is paid for via loans.

To OP: Think about going abroad. The world is not the US. There are several countries wealthier than the US in Europe, where PhD students are actually well paid ($50k/year, net of tuition and taxes in Norway is not uncommon), and a career as a researcher much better considered.

I would say its fairly hard to make it to grad school for free. However, it all depends on the institution and the benefits they offer. I'm currently in my first year of a concurrent MPA and MA program and I didn't get any funding besides loans and the standard graduate government from the government. Which is admittedly nice, but only pays for like a quarter of the tuition or so. Within my MPA program, there is only one person I know of that got a full ride from the get go, but he's from Eastern Europe and has a fair bit of financial experience already. But a good number of classmates have gotten TA/RA/GA positions that has paid for that quarter's tuition either through the MPA program or via another department. So if you are able to find a new position every quarter, you could theoretically make it through grad school without paying anything. But that's a gamble, obviously.

In my program, even though it is quite prestigious, it isn't too difficult to work and take classes. But you have to be aware that grad school is a hell of a lot more expensive and I'm fairly confident that none of the people that work are paying their way as they go. I haven't asked anyone, but I sincerely doubt it. It is definitely possible to work though, and a good idea since you can gain experience through internships and whatnot before graduation and have the benefit of experience and an advanced degree.

So, that's my two cents. This is only for masters though since PhDs are pretty much all fully funded as far as I've seen. Also, there is a difference between a professional degree and an MA/MS. You are probably not going to find any sort of scholarship for a professional program other than something small since the assumption is you'll gain it back over the course of your career without too much trouble. Also, do what Twig said and get a credit card. Buy small things with it and pay it off every month. If you are seriously considering grad school, you'll have to fill out the FAFSA and they check your credit for the GradPLUS loan or whatever its called. But even outside of that, you're going to want a long credit history unless you want your parents co-signing on all your big purchases or apartments for a long time.

sbeefyk2 wrote:

Deathly Afraid of Debt wrote:

Is it common for TA or Research positions to pay for all of graduate tuition? How difficult is it to obtain a position such as this? I assume professional schools such as PT schools don't have such an option.

They pay you for 20 hours a week of work but you’ll work maybe 4 hours a week if you teach two classes.

This is true except that's 4 contact hours. You usually spend some additional time on class prep, office hours, and grading. For me it ended up being 10-12 hours per week max.

The term "graduate school" means different things to different people. To people getting PhDs with the intention of eventually being a tenured professor, every other kind of program is usually considered "professional school." That obviously includes JD/MD/MBA, but it also includes many MA programs like MPH and MPA. If you're talking about getting a PhD, then the advice above is spot on: you should not pay a dime. Any school that asks you to pay for a PhD is taking advantage of you. The only possible exception is "professional PhDs," where you're basically expected to get a real (non-academic) job.

For most MA programs, you're probably out of luck. A lot of schools use their MA programs as cash cows. Many MAs are also pretty worthless in terms of improving employment prospects, so be very careful here.

For professional schools, it varies a lot. You can often get an employer to pay for an MBA (or at least an executive MBA, where you don't go to school full time). For law school, it's incredibly easy to get scholarships just by attending a school that's a bit below where your credentials would normally get you, and that even includes schools ranked in the top 10.

Lots of good info but might not be 100% clear to the OP:

Exercise science MS or Ph.D. would/should be covered with a research or teaching assistantship. Sometimes for the research you might be on your own on securing the funding through grants--but usually that's going to be up to your major professor. TAing can be a stopgap for a couple semesters. If science you'll be doing labs and grading so it's more than 4 hours a week for a half time--more like 15 to 20 (e.g., 3 labs at 2.5 to 3 hours, plus prep and clean up), sitting in on the lectures (e.g., intro bio or cell bio classes), holding review sessions, and grading assignments or tests.

With a research assistantship the bulk of that "20 hours" is supposed to be devoted to your own research, but usually grad students spend a lot more than that doing their research. At time you might be at the beck and call of your professor, and if he/she needs some work done you will be expected to devote some time to their other projects.

You can also get supplemental grants and fellowships to help you along. Those are a lot like applying for scholarships to help finance your undergrad education.

As others have said, PT school is for a professional degree and you would be expected to pay for most of it (loans or financial aid, or out of pocket if you are rich) or get some need or merit scholarships.

Are you a decent athlete with eligibility left?

Deathly Afraid of Debt wrote:

Twig Mzungu wrote:

might actually be skeptical of someone with a doctoral degree.

Why is that?

If someone with a PhD is applying to a job that only requires a Master's, the hiring authority could assume the candidate actually wanted a more prestigious position and couldn't find one, meaning (a) they're not actually a good candidate, or (b) they're reluctantly settling for this job. I don't actually know how prevalent this thinking is among employers, but that's the theory.

Twig Mzungu wrote:

Deathly Afraid of Debt wrote:

Why is that?

If someone with a PhD is applying to a job that only requires a Master's, the hiring authority could assume the candidate actually wanted a more prestigious position and couldn't find one, meaning (a) they're not actually a good candidate, or (b) they're reluctantly settling for this job. I don't actually know how prevalent this thinking is among employers, but that's the theory.

I'd imagine it's common enough for a woman to get a PhD and then spend quite a bit of time with family / children. I don't think that theory holds.

The idea of graduating debt-free from grad school ultimately comes down to the field that you want to study and what level you want to attain (MS vs. PhD).

As a former chemistry PhD student, I was financially covered for 5 years (through my department) in the form of a teaching assistantship. In addition, my tuition was covered as well (through the department). The only thing I was responsible for was some student fees which totaled to about $2k a year.

No matter what graduate program you are in, I guarantee your PI will not want you to have a full-time job while being a graduate student in their lab. You should be devoting 60+ hours a week to your research/TA duties and you shouldn't have time to work a full-time job on the side (at least that was my personal experience, yours could be different).

Also, it is very early for you to be thinking about graduate school because so many things can happen between now and next year (which is when you would be applying for schools). If you really are interested, contact the department coordinator and ask them questions about their stipend packages and how graduate students are funded.

Hope that helps!

I can only really speak to what I know, but, like the poster above me, I did a chemistry PhD (graduating in about 3 months). Tuition is paid for, and I make about $30k per year. The first year was teaching and the last 4 are all in the lab. Master's students at my school pay $60k for the one year, take more classes than I had to, and have to do lab work for a short thesis. Plenty of people in my program come for the PhD, where they meet the requirements for a Master's, get paid to take classes and then leave after one year with their degree.

I would assume that kinesiology PhD operates under a similar financial principle where the tuition is covered and you can receive a stipend for research or teaching to give you some semblance of a living. The amount always depends on program and school, but, truth be told, probably will be less than $30k. As a sophomore, it's probably a good time to start thinking more about the future (not saying that you're behind or anything, but you'll find that the end of undergrad sneaks up on you pretty quickly).

I know you listed three possibilities for your future. The best place to start is talk to one of your professors, and if you haven't already, get an advisor in kinesiology. Any professor in that department will for sure have seen students off to all 3 of those areas and can help you figure out the next step. And obviously, they will have also gone through grad school so they can give you a very detailed perspective of what it's like in that field.

As for the PT thing, I had a close friend go through that. He went pretty far in debt (about $40k a year for his program I think). Jobs are pretty good once you graduate. I think its pretty common to be around $70k right away and get to about $90k in only a couple years. But he's said he doesn't really like the work now that he's out of school. He said it didn't really meet the expectations he had set for it. He thought he would be able to get a job where he could work with a lot of high school/college athletes and get interesting cases, but in reality, he works like 90% with elderly people who have to rehab their broken hip or whatever. I would recommend shadowing a PT for a while to get an idea if its really what you want to do.

Hope that helps

800 dude wrote:

For law school, it's incredibly easy to get scholarships just by attending a school that's a bit below where your credentials would normally get you, and that even includes schools ranked in the top 10.

Are you serious?

I started a PhD 4 years ago and my experience was similar to posters above. I fairly easily got a TA position and then RA position and haven't paid anything but ~$200 in student fees per quarter. BUT, it does not appear to be as easy for the newer students coming in now. It may be due to the fact that the program is trying to grow, and more students are being accepted without an increase in funding, but it may also be due to a general decrease in funding nationally (I'm not sure if this is true).

Go ahead and apply and if you can secure funding before going, great! If you can't secure funding, then consider getting a real job. You'll likely learn more over the next 4 years in a job than in school anyway.

Are you sure? wrote:

Go ahead and apply and if you can secure funding before going, great! If you can't secure funding, then consider getting a real job. You'll likely learn more over the next 4 years in a job than in school anyway.

Easier said than done with an exercise science degree. The idea of going to undergrad for exercise science was to go to some kind of graduate school.