A Simple Guide to Graduate School Scholarships

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Everything You Need To Know About Graduate School Scholarships

The idea of adding graduate school student loans to the list of your financial obligations can seem overbearing. Should the cost stop you from going after that degree? Not when there are graduate school scholarships to help you out.

What may hold you back from applying for financial aid for grad school is the tiring research process. Where to look? How to apply? DoNotPay will tell you everything!

Learn the ins and outs of getting a graduate school scholarship with this simple guide.

Scholarships for Graduate Students—The Basics

Scholarships and grants for graduate students aren’t as common as undergraduate scholarships or aid for high-school students, but that doesn’t mean they are unattainable. You can finance your graduate studies without taking out a loan if you find a scholarship tailored to your situation.

Scholarships to graduates can be awarded based on:

  • Merit—Refers to academic achievement
  • Need—Refers to students’ financial need
  • Field of interest—Refers to the field or industry in which the student is getting the degree
  • Career choice—Refers to scholarships that companies give to their employees to get a higher education degree

In terms of the institution that gives the monetary help, your benefactors can be:

  • Government bodies
  • Non-profit organizations
  • For-profit organizations
  • Companies
  • Schools

The Difference Between Fellowships, Scholarships, and Grants for Graduate Students

When you start looking for non-repayable financial aid for grad students, you will come across:

  1. Fellowships
  2. Scholarships
  3. Grants

Fellowships are awarded based on merit. They are short-term financial support that usually requires a student to do an internship or make a similar contribution.

Students can get scholarships based on different factors—such as academic achievement, demographic, region, veteran status, etc. This type of aid doesn’t need to be paid back.

Grants are need-based and often related to a certain field. Like scholarships, they don’t need to be repaid.

Types of Graduate School Grants and Scholarships

College scholarships for graduate students can come from different sources and can be delegated for various purposes. The search for grants and scholarships is broad because there is so much you need to consider when deciding what scholarships are optimal for your unique situation.

In the table below, you can find the most common types of scholarships for grads:

Type of ScholarshipExplanation
School-specific scholarship
  • Schools give their students scholarships to continue pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees
  • The financial aid office at your school will have information about the graduate scholarships you can apply for
Filed-specific scholarship
  • Professional organizations, foundations, and corporations give scholarships to grads to continue their education in a specific field
  • The scholarships can be awarded in the fields of counseling, science, education, social work, music, and other
Region-specific scholarship
  • The state or region where you are from can reward you with a scholarship
  • The candidate pool is typically smaller, which gives you an advantage
  • Your state’s Department of Education has information about region-specific scholarships
  • International students can also inquire about a scholarship
Demographic-specific scholarship
Career-specific scholarship
  • Corporations, companies, and businesses can cover the expenses of grad school for their employees
  • The company you work for—or are about to start working for—can offer you this possibility

How To Find Scholarships for Graduate School

The toughest part of getting a scholarship for graduate school is knowing where to look for them. You can search for scholarships online, call your financial aid office, or look on different institutions’ websites.

When doing the research, keep the following in mind:

  • What makes you different?
  • Which field are you in?
  • Which school do you attend?
  • Where do you attend it?

There are also scholarships for specific interests, religious beliefs, or certain hobbies, so look into that as well. For example, you can search for scholarships for Christian, Muslim, Catholic, or Jewish students, those who play soccer, volleyball, or football, or students who dance, cheerlead, or do community service.

The options are numerous, which is why the search can be overwhelming. Wish there was a way to find all scholarships you are eligible for in one place? There is—. Our nifty app will find every scholarship you can apply for in no time.

How To Apply for Scholarships and Grants for Graduate School

The requirements and application process for a scholarship for grad school are different depending on your specific case. What you should do when you decide to apply is:

  1. Find all the programs you are eligible for
  2. Contact the representative of the program to find out more about it
  3. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form—note that you are considered an independent student
  4. Collect the required documents for different programs
  5. Get the letters of recommendation
  6. Write personalized scholarship essays for each program—if necessary
  7. Apply to all programs you are qualified for

To cut down your application costs, find out how you can get a graduate school application fee waiver.

Find Scholarships and Grants for Graduate School Within Minutes With DoNotPay

Do you want to make sure that you apply for every scholarship available to you? , and you will get a comprehensive list of all the ones you’re eligible for in less than two minutes.

After you answer a few basic questions, we can pull out the grad school scholarships for which you tick all the boxes. All you need to do is:

  1. Create an account
  2. Find the Apply for Scholarships tool
  3. Fill in the questionnaire

The rest is up to us. You will get a list that includes the name of the scholarship, the purpose of it, the amount you can get, and the deadline. We can even apply for no-essay scholarships on your behalf.

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