Approach to Funding Your Graduate Studies

One of the prevailing concerns for prospective students worldwide is funding. With many countries still seeing rising tuition fees, alongside cuts to government-funded financial aid, obtaining sufficient funding and managing debt are often the biggest obstacles facing students who wish to pursue further education.

To start with, the cost of graduate study can be overwhelming simply to work out. Depending on the location and your circumstances, you may need to account for some or all of the following: tuition fees, semester fees, student services fees, course material expenses, food, travel, accommodation, visa and health insurance costs, childcare, and personal expenses. For some, there’s also the “opportunity cost” to calculate, meaning the cost of time spent taking a career break.

The good news? While costs are in many cases higher than ever, leading universities and national governments are focusing on ways to increase funding opportunities and their accessibility.

Sources of graduate funding

It’s advisable to start looking for graduate funding opportunities while or even before applying to universities, as the two processes often require very similar applications. In general, applications for funding need to be submitted by spring if you’re starting study in the fall of the same year.

There are many types of funding available for graduate students: merit-based, need-based, need-blind, university-specific, course-specific, subject-specific, career-specific, demographic-specific, country-specific, ability-specific, and non-specific… The following is a breakdown of the most common types of graduate funding available around the world

Home- and host-country governments

For funding opportunities, the first places to check are the Ministry/Department of Education in your home and host countries. International students may not be eligible for all government funding schemes in the host country, so it’s important to thoroughly check opportunities in your home country first.

Typical government-funded aid includes sponsorships, loans, grants, scholarships (also known as studentships in the UK when referring to Ph.D. students), and bursaries, each with distinct rules regarding eligibility, deadlines, application procedures, and amount of funding awarded.

Universities and higher education institutions (HEIs)

Many universities and other HEIs offer some sort of financial aid for international students, be it fellowships, scholarships, grants, awards, or bursaries. These are distributed on the basis of need, academic merit, or both. Funding information is usually available online – check the scholarship or international section of the university website.

Apply to as many schemes as possible but remember to check the criteria carefully to ensure you fit the requirements. Make sure to highlight your strengths and any exceptional achievements. Those applying for graduate study should also draw attention to any research projects, academic events, papers, or conferences to which they have contributed, as well as discuss future research plans

Scholarships

Scholarships are prestigious, highly coveted, and usually the hardest form of financial aid to secure. They don’t need to be repaid and cover the full or partial costs of tuition, sometimes along with a portion of living costs. Scholarships are usually based solely on academic merit, although there are also many specialized scholarships that are targeted at students with certain backgrounds, interests, skills, or ambitions. For example, sporting scholarships for the athletically gifted are particularly common in the US, and you don’t have to be on a sports-related course to apply.

Teaching and research assistantships

Assistantships (also known as studentships in the US) provide funding for postgraduate students in exchange for time spent working in a teaching or research role. They may be funded by the university department or your supervisor’s research budget, or by an external funding body with vested interests in a particular field of development. Rarely offered for professional degrees such as the JD, MBA, or MD, often a requirement for PhD programs, and particularly common in STEM subjects, assistantships are cost-effective for the university and provide valuable teaching and/or research experience for the student.

Students with an assistantship are obliged to carry out specified teaching and/or research activities, stipulated in a contract. In return, you’ll typically receive a modest salary and/or a waiver of your tuition fees. Some universities may also provide funding for field trips and conference participation. When working in this capacity, make sure to remain within the constraints of your student visa, which may specify some employment restrictions.

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