Hello,

 I have searched and searched and searched, and I have yet to find any kind of financial aid for doctoral students. Anyone know of any?

 Thanks!

 mdbates42

 

By "financial aid" are you meaning scholarships and grants or loans?

This is one area where DL lags way behind B&M   I cannot recall a single doctoral candidate who paid for the whole enchilada out of pocket.  B&M you have the obvious choices of reduced tuition as a TA or RA, and every semester begins with the ever popular seminar in grant writing   Best of all, almost all of these are awarded purely on merit.

Taking on x-hours per week as a teaching or researching assistant, though, can drastically  affect your graduation date.  With B&M students, by this time they are generally married, starting families, and that becomes their Faustian bargain

Check with the schools.  Very few schools will advertise it because it does fluctuate wildly from semester to semester.  Putting it in glorious black and white inevitably leads directly to some twit suing for ridiculous sums for alleged discrimination

Oh, man.  I wish I could say differently, but I have never heard of someone meeting a significant part of their expenses for a distance learning doctoral program through grants or scholarships.  Believe me, as a doctoral student myself I'd have loved to have been the guy to figure this one out, but I think this is next to impossible.  Assistantships are for students who are full time and on campus.  We distance students are there to pay full price and keep the lights on for everyone else.  If you find differently, please let me know.

-=Steve=-

The same principles apply regardless of the delivery mode - whether you're telecommuting in a matter of seconds online, or fighting traffic for an hour each way, four days a week as I am - it's up to you to find financing.  The schools can help if they know there are funds available and the hoop-jump-biscuit of accessing them.

DL as we know it simply doesn't have the alumni base going back multiple generations, so it's lagging way behind B&M on those 7-10 figure endowments    And, of course, with the market crash since September, most of them suffered the same percentage loss as individual investors, so their priority right now is preservation, not increased distribution. So basically you have only three options -  tuition loans, additional income, or just muddling through the best you can for as long as you can.

That second option is where you need to focus.  At this stage, you're eminently qualified for things that were completely out of your league as recently as 2 or 3 years ago..  There is no reason you cannot begin cashing in on that right now, and obviously you would be if you weren't a doctoral student.  The trick is to optimize the trade off - you want the maximum income with the minimum investment of time and energy.  You'll have to figure that out for yourself according to your strengths and interests.  For me it's a continuation of what I've been doing - corporate training and increasingly public speaking.   Take what you know and present it to the public - or more precisely, a well-defined special interest group. 

If you want to do way cool research that carries a hefty price tag, you're going to have to first produce a convincing proposal and shop it around to the people with deep pockets.  The problem is that most of them aren't in tune with the hundreds of DL schools, but they do know faculty and administration at the local institutions and state universities, and they have a sixth sense about what's an appropriate risk and investment and what isn't. 

henryw:

The same principles apply regardless of the delivery mode - whether you're telecommuting in a matter of seconds online, or fighting traffic for an hour each way, four days a week as I am - it's up to you to find financing.  The schools can help if they know there are funds available and the hoop-jump-biscuit of accessing them.  DL as we know it simply doesn't have the alumni base going back multiple generations, so it's lagging way behind B&M on those 7-10 figure endowments    And, of course, with the market crash since September, most of them suffered the same percentage loss as individual investors, so their priority right now is preservation, not increased distribution. So basically you have only three options -  tuition loans, additional income, or just muddling through the best you can for as long as you can.

This all makes it sound like the schools that offer distance programs are always different the ones that offer classroom ones, but that's not so.  For example, I might have gotten an assistantship had I gone to a Master's program on campus at GW, but for my DL program there was nothing but Stafford loans.  The point is that even from the same schools there aren't the same opportunities specifically for grants and scholarships for distance learning graduate students.

The relevant questions are first 'why' and then 'what can be done to improve things.' 

While I was shopping around for a doctoral program to suit my needs, I didn't put a whole of time or effort into rationalizing a compromise or substitute based on financing.  It was clear that I wouldn't be able to accomplish it via DL, but I quickly found an abundance of options, including the now pertinent details about financing, by going the traditional B&M route.   

It's not exactly Shangri La.  On the upside, there are real, live, human beings, which is a welcome relief from the usual DL student  intent on sprinting to degree as quickly as possible - completely anonymously and in permanent stealth mode.  (That's quite a contrast with the average student on campus, stilll in their late teens or early twenties, and a little too obsessed with unbridled hedonism now that they're FINALLY away from mom and dad.)  With a student population the size of a large town or small city, there is an enormous variety of other perks - like the million volumes plus in dead-tree  editions of books and journals,  the  art and science collections, the foodservice, the daily student recitals and open rehearsals from a variety of ensembles to full orchestra and chorus. 

The downside is the prodigal waste of time and money commuting several hundred miles each week, most of the mileage at break-neck Interstate speeds, with most of the time in stop-and-go city traffic.  Then there's the obligatory 5-10 minutes circling the parking lots to find a place to park, followed by a hike halfway across campus, sitting in hard fiberglass or laminated wood chairs for an hour or more trying to hear the alleged sage on the stage, some barely half my age mumble, through a dry, boring lecture at 120-140 wpm, and always subject to  his/her schedule, not mine.   I miss my comfortable chair at home, with ready access to my personal library, and the freedom to read (at 450-600 wpm, BTW) and study when *I* choose, and immediate access to the kitchen, stereo, or Internet

However, having gotten this far through DL is really a godsend because I'm better equipped when it comes to time management, and not at all intimidated by sheer volume of reading and writing that's required.  They're sharp as tacks when it comes to cases and the discussions do get - shall we say - 'animated' at times; I would be at a distinct disadvantage here because argumentation takes a completely different form and tenor online, and my experience with corporate training doesn't help much because that a different caste and we're primarily focused on getting quickly to the best application in their situation which doesn't change radically from external factors like the market crash or the blame-game.

And, 'Yes, Virginia,' at a university this size we have dozens of professors earning in excess of that magic 250 grand Obama insists makes them disgustingly rich elitists    I haven't checked the salaries for administration - they try to keep that a secret - but I know the previous president earned well in excess of 830-some-odd thousand in the late '90s and the athetic director at the time was even higher (but that's typical since the alumni DEMAND a winning team).

At this level, Steve, you should be comfortable enough with researching significantly more than wikipedia and google, and should be aware that what really impresses academics is hard date.  Indeed, this could very easily become an outstanding dissertation topic if you choose to pursue it or at least a submission to one of the peer reviewed journals.

henryw:

At this level, Steve, you should be comfortable enough with researching significantly more than wikipedia and google, and should be aware that what really impresses academics is hard date.  Indeed, this could very easily become an outstanding dissertation topic if you choose to pursue it or at least a submission to one of the peer reviewed journals.

I have to admit that you've baffled me here.  I have no idea what any of this, especially this last part seeming directed to me, has to do with the conversation I thought we were having about schools and foundations not offering grants and scholarships for distance learning grad students the way the do for full time classroom based ones.

-=Steve=-

Then skip it!  I was obviously mistakenly under the impression you were thinking about doing something about the inequity   It's not my battle either, but for someone it's going to be a great dissertation topic!

What I hope everyone got out of this thread is that what's available  in the way of reducing your tuition costs will depend on where you're enrolled - not only the  institution but  also your major and whether you're enrolled as a DL student or on campus.  It's up to you to search out what may be available to you because it isn't always included in the brochures and information packets or  anywhere on the web site.  The financial aid office is the best place to start, but should not be the only source. 

henryw:

Then skip it!  I was obviously mistakenly under the impression you were thinking about doing something about the inequity   It's not my battle either, but for someone it's going to be a great dissertation topic!

Ooooh.  Sorry, just being slow here.   Anyway, I'm already doing my dissertation on vegan nutrition education, so while it may be a great topic for someone, it will have to be someone else.

What I hope everyone got out of this thread is that what's available  in the way of reducing your tuition costs will depend on where you're enrolled - not only the  institution but  also your major and whether you're enrolled as a DL student or on campus.  It's up to you to search out what may be available to you because it isn't always included in the brochures and information packets or  anywhere on the web site.  The financial aid office is the best place to start, but should not be the only source.

That's very true.

-=Steve=-