Is there a comprehensive list someone can kindly recommend? Does income, location, major, race etc matter for Rhodes?
Location matters (either home state or school). Any major can earn the award, but you have to be pretty spectacular.
There is a list. Years ago I went to school with someone who wanted to be a Rhodes scholar. He was on it from day one, always meeting with professors, signing up for projects and events, building a resume. At the time Rhodes scholars needed to be athletes and I remember him worrying that his last athletic feat were in high school.
Are you more interested in merit scholarships for their own sake or in graduate school programs in which the student is likely to receive financial support? Merit certainly matters for the second category but I wouldn’t call this category “scholarships” or equate it to being a Rhodes scholar.
I agree with @rosered55
Are you asking specifically about what it takes to become a Rhodes Scholar? That is a very different question than inquiring about grad school funding in general.
What kind of grad school and for what degree? Masters? PhD? MBA?
I’m sorry. My question was vague. I’m asking for ways to get money to make a graduate degree affordable.
I’m assuming all grad students apply independently of their parent’s finances?
What type of grad school? A PhD student’s financial situation is different vs a law student vs a med student vs a masters in some other subject.
That’s a bad assumption, and it’s one reason that you’ve been asked what type of grad school are you considering.
For MA in Political Science.
FAFSA and CSS are student’s own or require parent’s information? If student is above 21 and isn’t getting any money from parents then does it matter for aid award?
I don’t know for that type of degree (but think long and hard about whether that MA would be worth it — I would doubt the value of that degree, honestly).
For State Department or UN jobs, wouldn’t you need one?
I certainly know people who worked for State (got jobs in the last 5 years) without a masters. Not sure about UN.
The student should take this question to their own department and to the career center at their campus. The career center is likely to have better expertise about job-hunting, and the academic department is likely to have better expertise at grad school placement.
Let’s forget the specific student, please share your information for financing a master’s degree in general if you don’t mind.
@intparent A masters degree may help in finding better positions or getting promotions. If you look up people holding top positions in government, all seems to have masters, law or doctorate degrees. No?
Many people in gov’t service received their Master’s degrees while they were working. You can get a job with an undergrad degree (usajobs.gov). A good subset of those people had their classes paid for by the gov’t during that time (in return for required follow-on service). If you don’t find an employer willing to pay for part-time courses then you will have to borrow or pay yourself.
In general, fin aid for graduate school is very different. There is very little free money, although larger loans are easier to get.
Let’s start with academic/research PhDs. Typically, these are funded through assistantships (teaching or research) by the degree granting institution. The student works for a stipend and tuition waiver. Fellowships, the closest thing to scholarships, are offered by some institutions for their top candidates, but it’s likely those are for a limited time (not the whole degree program) or have some responsibilities attached. Students will likely need loans.
For an academic area MA, assistantships are more likely to be available if the institution does not offer a PhD in that area. If earning the advanced degree helps employer, there may be some tuition reimbursement, but outside of government, which is very generous, don’t expect to get a long break from work while finishing degree and have employer pay. For a master’s, expect to fund mostly with loans
For professional degrees, whether "doctorate” (DNP, DPT, JD, OTD, MD, etc) or master’s level (MBA, MSN, MSW etc), there’s really minimal aid in terms of free money. There may be employer reimbursement in some cases, but again, only if the degree somehow helps the employer. Expect to borrow a lot. Some of these professional programs will require parent information during the aid application process.
Not at all.
That doesn’t mean it was required for the job. It just means that the type of people who are interested in being educated in certain subject matter are also the type of people who gravitate toward these types of jobs. Of course, “jobs in State Dept or UN” is very broad. It would depend on what type of job.
I think the best answers would come from the website of each program. I looked up the the relevant information for the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (where the political science department is housed) for you. You or your son will have to look online for each program of interest.
https://gsas.columbia.edu/degree-programs/admissions/frequently-asked-questions