How do people finance grad school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PHDs are free. JDs can be near free - HYS give only need base aid but schools below Chicago, Columbia, UVA, etc. give out full rides. MBAs don't come with scholarships but many consulting firms will do tuition reimbursement so you only end up paying for 1 year.

Not always true- I had a full tuition scholarship for my MBA and a 10 hour a week TA position that helped with living expenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My employer paid for my MBA program. They do this as retention incentives. I’m surprised not to hear more people having their grade schools paid by their employer since it’s pretty standard where I work.

Degrees like MBA and MPP should always be covered by employers, whether private sector or federal government. The only people paying out of pocket for these are fools and those who use these programs as a stalling method for entering the real world in lieu of actual work experience.

You know, it's possible to make a point like yours without being such an asshole. Try it.

For the record I know loads of people who paid for their own MBAs, usually after work experience, who have great careers and are are rolling in cash.

There are virtually no people in MPP/MPA programs getting their degrees paid for by the government.

I paid for my own MPP, although I received a half-tuition scholarship and was given a paid TA position, both of which helped defray expenses. Acquiring the MPP gave me an immediate 60 percent salary bump and paid for itself very quickly.

That was a few decades ago, and the cost of attendance has certainly changed, but I don't think the calculus for someone who wants a career in public policy/administration is that different. If you want to work in this field, you have to have an advanced degree and generally it will be worth the investment. I currently work for an organization that hires a lot of people with MPP/MPA degrees. (We also hire people with PhDs in the social sciences.) We don't hire anyone other than research assistants unless they have an advanced degree, and we pay entry-level MPP/MPA/MPH people a lot more than we pay RAs.

For the PP asking if getting an MPP/MPA is worth it, I would say absolutely but I would encourage your DC to work for a few years in some public policy/public administration/non-profit capacity before going to grad school.

[Anonymous]

I’m a millennial and a LOT of my friends and myself paid for graduate school by marrying a working spouse first and paying out of the spouse’s income plus student loans. Some of us stayed married after graduation and paid off our own loans out of income. A few users divorced the working spouse after he/she cashflowed half of graduate school. Shady but I know several who did this.