Finding Scholarships for Graduate School

Finding Scholarships for Graduate School
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Graduate School Scholarship Opportunities!

Have you been thinking about expanding your education from a bachelor’s degree to a graduate degree, but were discouraged by the cost of such a move? The financial obstacles that graduate degrees can pose are what hinders many from pursuing dreams of continuing education after a typical four year degree, but did you know that there are MANY OPPORTUNITIES for graduate scholarships if you just know where to look? Let’s get started!

This probably goes without saying, but you first need to decide which graduate school your interested in attending. Even though you may think the school of your dreams is impossible for you to attend because of distance, think again. Many schools offer on-line graduate degree plans that require little or no campus attendance, so don’t think you have to only focus on local universities. Do some research and you may just find that your dream school isn’t too far out of reach!

University Funded Scholarships

The website of your prospective graduate school has great information on school-supported scholarships, but you need to know where to look. For example, if you are hoping to attend my alma amater, Texas Tech University’s graduate school (doesn’t everyone want to be a Red Raider?), then you would go to their university homepage and click on “Admissions” on the left hand side of the screen. After clicking on the “Funding Your Education” tab, you will find a list of school-supported scholarships. School supported scholarships receive funding from the university. Most graduate programs offer school-supported scholarships that do not require you to be enrolled in the university to apply. Take notice of deadlines for scholarship applications, because many are due at the end of February for the next calendar year of school.

Externally Funded Graduate Scholarships

If you’ve tried your hand at school-supported scholarships, or you find you don’t meet the requirements for such funding, you should look in to externally funded graduate scholarships and fellowships. This list on the Texas Tech Graduate School website will work for any university in the United States.

  1. Are you a woman or member of an underrepresented group? Try this page for a huge list of opportunities for you to try your hand at and possibly find money to finance your education.
  2. Interested in continuing your education in the field of Social Sciences, such as education and the like? Then check out the different applications you can peruse on this page.
  3. Would you like to pursue a degree in Mathematics, Computer Sciences, or any of the other subjects that do not appeal to the English major like me? This page has many options for you to explore in the way of scholarships and grants!
  4. Not from the United States, but would like to attend a U.S. institute? Try this page! You will find many links for scholarship opportunities for international students.

My usage of the Texas Tech Graduate Scholarship resources should give you bit of insight in to how much information is on university web pages. Explore them thoroughly, and you will find many links to funding assistance for continuing your post graduate education. A word of caution for those of you trolling the INTERNET for scholarship applications: only give your personal information to trusted organizations. Any of the links found on university pages should be safe, but be wary of applications that request social security information or ask for other personal info. Good luck on your quest to fund the next chapter of your life, and remember to dream big…perhaps you will find someone else to pay for your big dreams!