If you are heading to grad school, there are a wide range of master’s degree scholarships available. Scholarships for masters degrees may help you go to graduate school for free. They could offset other expenses such as the cost of researching for your thesis.
Financial aid for graduate school is different than it is for an undergrad degree. Federal financial aid is available to grad students in the form of work study and loans. Pell Grants are only for undergraduates. As such, finding a master’s degree scholarship may make the most financial sense.
Unlike federal loans, graduate school scholarships are money you receive but typically don’t have to pay back. As long as you abide by the terms and conditions.
Is it hard to get Masters Degree Scholarships?
Some masters degree scholarships may be more competitive than other awards. Master degree scholarships come with their own criteria for eligibility. Getting a scholarship that helps pay for your master’s degree may require:
Desire to study a specific topic (E.g. Oncology Nursing, Architecture, Project Management, etc.)
Intention to research in a chosen area (E.g. Archaeological Research)
Demonstrated qualities (E.g. Leadership or Public Service)
Some scholarships for master’s degrees are also open to undergrads. So, you’ll be up against both sets of students who are competing for the awards.
One example is the Davis-Putter Scholarship. Scholarships from the Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund pay $15,000. The grants help students who are active in movements for social and economic justice.
You’ll also find master’s degree scholarships that may fund grad students who are women or minorities. The Holly A. Cornell Scholarship is one example. This $7,500 award is from the American Water Works Society. It goes to talented female and/or minority students. The recipient needs to be pursuing a degree and research in the field of water supply and treatment.
Another example is the Jonathon Lax Scholarship Fund for Gay Men. These tuition scholarships come in amounts of $5,000 or $10,000. They are set aside to help gay men who live in the five-county Philadelphia region obtain more education.
There are also scholarships for graduate students in specific fields of study. One example is the Frederic G. MELCHER Scholarship. Two candidates receive $7,500 each.
To apply, you need to be a student pursuing a Master’s in Library Science (MLS) degree. And plan to work in children’s librarianship.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation offers a similar type of scholarship. Their awards are $5,000. They go to grad students in communication science and disorders.
WHAT BENEFITS ARE THERE TO PURSUING MASTERS Degree SCHOLARSHIPS?
As a graduate student, getting a master’s degree scholarship may come with many benefits. For one, the money might cover tuition, books, living expenses and research.
This may free you up to focus on completing your master’s degree. Without having to take out loans or get a job to pay for your classes.
You may also reap rewards of attaining a master’s degree when you graduate. Employment in master’s-level occupations is on the rise by almost 17 percent from 2016 to 2026. That’s the fastest of any education level.
This may explain why in the 2017 to 2018 period alone, 775,000 students earned a master’s degree. Yet many students weigh the cost of pursuing a master’s degree with the cost of attaining it.
For sure, the average costs of graduate tuition and required fees has been climbing. What does graduate school cost? The National Center for Education Statistics has been tracking this data.
On average, the tuition and fees associated with pursuing a master’s degree are:
Private institution: $20,368
Public institution: $8,763
Average overall: $14,537
It is no surprise that recently, 70.4% of graduate students received some type of financial aid. Almost half of these students (43.8 %) took out loans. Take away? if you are trying to go to graduate school for free, securing a scholarship or grant may be ideal.
LIST OF MASTER’S DEGREE SCHOLARSHIPS
Check out our list of scholarships for masters degrees. There are awards worth .
The attorneys at Capital Family Law Group know all too well that everyday parents make selfless sacrifices for their kids, whether it’s sacrificing their time, their money, or something else to make sure their children are well taken care of.
One way some parents help their kids is by providing financial support for their children to seek a higher education. We know how hard and stressful this can be, so we decided to offer a scholarship to help relieve some of the financial burdens on students and their parents. The 2023 Selfless Parent Scholarship will award a $1,000 scholarship to a student who best shares how their parent has made sacrifices for them throughout their life, and how these sacrifices have benefited the student.
The best submissions will discuss examples of how the applicant’s parent(s) have made sacrifices to help the applicant succeed in life. Examples can include, but are not limited to, driving the applicant to after-school activities, buying a present for the student that helped him/her discover their passion, or sending the student to a new school to enhance their learning.
Patrick Woolley is passionate about the development of healthy communities. By using sustainable resources and food-access programs, cities and counties across the country can provide nutrition and activities to foster vibrant and growing communities. Uniquely motivated people are critical to local health initiatives like access to clean water or opportunities in community-level sports and outdoor events.
As a former collegiate baseball player who maintains an active passion for the game, he has personally devoted ample time and energy to these issues. He constantly strives to create pathways for others to do the same. That is why Attorney Woolley has created the Healthy Communities Scholarship. He hopes to help students pursue their educational goals and lighten their financial burden through this scholarship.
This $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to a student who encourages sustainable and local health initiatives in their community. We are looking for students to write a 500-word statement on how they are working to better their communities and homes. One student will be selected for this award. The deadline to apply is May 31, 2024.
Graduate students with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher who are pursuing a degree in dental hygiene are eligible for this award. Applicants must be student or professional members of the American Dental Hygienist’s Association (ADHA) and members of the Sigma Phi Alpha Dental Hygiene Honor Society.
The ATG Groundbreaker Leadership Scholarship provides financial assistance and promotion of Asian American college seniors and graduate students who have exhibited exemplary leadership, vision, and passion that is blazing a trail for others to follow and changing lives in the Asian American community.
To be eligible you need to meet both general and specific criteria.
General Eligibility Requirements include:
• Must be of at least 25% Asian and/or Pacific Islander ethnicity
• Must be a citizen, national or legal permanent resident of the U.S.
• Must be either a high school senior or a college student currently enrolled full-time at an accredited U.S. vocational, junior college, or four-year college/university and must be a full- time, associate/bachelor/master’s degree seeking student by the upcoming academic calendar year
Scholarship is open to students of all majors, as long as you have proven leadership abilities through participation in community service, extracurricular, or other activities and have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (unweighted). Family members of Board members are ineligible.
Angels On The Move is commited to improving the quality of life by helping students fund their education. This scholarship is open to all students and can be used for any kind of academic endeavor. There are no restrictions on citizenship, residency, age, level of study, school/college, GPA, scores, finances, activities, or major.
Graduate students who have completed no more than 12 hours in an approved MLS/MLIS program while attending an ALA-accredited school are eligible for this award. Eligible students must be U.S. or Canadian citizens and plan to work in a library in an area of service to children.
The NLN Foundation for Nursing Education offers scholarships of up to $8,000 each year to support the NLN’s mission to build a strong and diverse nursing workforce of qualified nurse educators.
This scholarship is available for college juniors, seniors, and graduate students who are residents of Hawaii and majoring in education. Students must have a grade point average of 2.0 or higher.
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) is the state’s oldest outdoor stewardship nonprofit organization. Since 1984, we have been motivating and enabling people to become active stewards of Colorado’s natural resources.
