Not an MPH, but I received my MPA many years ago from NYU Wagner. Most of the core classes were a split between MPA and MPH students.I had been in the workforce four years when I went back to school because I wanted to get into nonprofit management but I was one of the youngest people in my classes. Most of the MPH students were either doctors or senior administrators already. Regarding funding, I received a fellowship that covered 50% of tuition. I think that was typical because of the fields we were going into.
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I worked at a grad school, and my students borrowed a lot of money. I really worried about the younger students who still owed for their undergraduate loans. At the end of the two year program, I met with each student to discuss repayment. Students were shocked by the interest that had accumulated while they were in school, making their unpaid loans even larger.
The students who worked for a number of years before coming to graduate school were able to repay their undergrad loans before borrowing for graduate school. They were able to borrow less, because they had built up some savings. They were attractive scholarship candidates because they had accomplishments in the workplace. And a bonus … they knew why they were in grad school, which allowed them to get more out of it (and they were also better able to establish connections with professors and visiting lecturers).
My advice is to work incredibly hard to try to find a job that will allow you to pay your loans off. Avoid the trap of spending money that you don’t need to spend on things that you don’t need to buy. Have a goal of getting out of debt. Cross the grad school bridge later.
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It’s a bad idea to go to grad school now
- you need to pay off your undergraduate debt first - grad school is completely unaffordable right now
- you don’t have a specific career goal - graduate school should be undertaken with specific goals in mind
- grad schol is more profitable after you’ve worked in a field for 2-5 years
Another huge issue is that you promised your parents you wouldn’t take on more debt. Breach of trust would be egregious, especially considering they co signed loans for your undergraduate degree. You can’t ethically take on more loans before you’ve paid back what your parents took out for you.
Inquire about CityYear. If you have top grades see if you could apply to TFA. Contact your college’s career services. Since you have a degree in community health/health education see if any school district could be hiring for an administrative or even teaching role.
Look into Community Centers: do they offer courses in Spanish (especially Spanish for the health professions) or any other language people speak in your area (Creole, Somali, Hmong, Ukrainian…)
As per s.o upthread, having a course in diabetes communication or smoke cessation helps (through community education or local community college) - this could be a couple hours a week while you work full time.
Your #1 priority should be to find a job that allows you to pay back $500+/month toward your loans (including living very frugally for about 5 years while you work.) You can only consider grad school once your undergrad debt is almost gone.
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City Year or TFA are good options, as you will be on the teacher’s salary guide. You could actually make a pretty good salary… depending on the district.
I don’t know if City Year does this, but TFA allows you to remove a small piece of your undergrad loan for each year of service.
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Background: I have an MPH which I did mid-career. I learned a lot and am in a job where I use some of what I learned in my MPH every day. I get to do interesting and important work. I make a good income. I am not against the degree at all.
That all said. I wouldn’t recommend going right out of your BA/BS if it means going into substantive debt (which you would be). You won’t get a much of a salary boost over someone with only BA/BS when your graduate. You will still be considered entry-level for the most part. IMO an MPH (like an MBA) is a degree where will get more value from the schoolwork if you have some real-world experience going in to the classes (even more so for an MBA, but I think true for both). An exception would be if you wanted to do lots of epi and biostats. Then the degree may set you up for different roles, even w/o a lot of experience.
There are a number of MPH programs that are part-time and programs meant for working adults, which will save you $ since you aren’t forgoing a year or two of income…your employer may even pay a hunk of it (mine did).
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Adding working a few years will also allow you to focus your interests even more, and thus take more targeted classes helpful for your career.
Some MPH programs focus a lot on management, some on policy, some on healthcare delivery, some on research…etc etc. Then there is environmental health, global health, health comms, etc.
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