Graduate School Financial Aid

Paying for grad school is very similar to paying for your undergraduate degree except easier because you should be wiser about financial aid options than you were as a college freshman.

Essentially there are 5 types of graduate financial aid available to you. You should explore them in the following order:

• College and program funding offered through your college's financial aid office because you don't have to pay them back and there are fewer people competing for them.
• Scholarships and Grants because you don't have to pay them back though there could be lots of competition. Still, there are lots of them so hard work will pay off.
• Graduate Stafford Loans because the government will pay the interest while you are in graduate school and you don't have to make payments until your graduate.
• Grad Plus Student Loans are the next option. They have a fixed low interest rate and you don't have to pay them back until you graduate but the interest does build up while you are in graduate school.
• Graduate Private Student Loans are the last option. These have low fixed interest rates but only a 6-month grace period so you will have to begin paying them back while you are in school.
• Student Loan Consolidation allows you to combine multiple loans into one while lowering your monthly payment. Consider the following:
  • Graduate Student Loan Consolidation
  • Federal Student Loan Consolidation
  • Defaulted Student Loan Consolidation Services