When you first started applying to colleges, in your senior year of high school, you undoubtedly found several scholarships for which you qualified. Whether those awards were based on your grades, your ethnicity, your gender or your athletic ability, undergraduate scholarships weren’t difficult to find.
Now that it’s time to consider graduate school, you’ll find that scholarships aren’t as easy to come by. Even though they aren’t as easy to find, graduate scholarships are out there. With a bit of searching, you can find graduate scholarships that will help fund your last two years of college. Here are five types of assistance that you can use towards earning your graduate degree:
College Awards
The first step in securing any type of financial aid for graduate school is contacting the school you’ll be attending. Most graduate schools offer assistance in various forms to their incoming and continuing students. Look for assistance in the form of scholarships, research stipends and work study. You may be surprised at how much you can knock off of your tuition by contacting the financial aid office of the graduate school you’ve chosen to attend.
Research Fellowships
If you are pursuing a course of study that requires a great deal of research, you could be eligible for funding from your college and organizations in your field. For instance, The National Science Foundation offers research fellowships to graduate students who are pursuing a degree in the field of science.
Career Scholarships
Depending on what field of study you plan on earning your graduate degree in, you may qualify for a career-specific scholarship. For instance, if you are in graduate school, pursuing a degree in healthcare management, you are eligible to apply for the Foundation of the American College of Healthcare Executives annual Foster G. McGaw Graduate Student Scholarship. The award totals $5,000 and 20 students each year are recipients. Many other organizations offer career based scholarships, simply type in your choice of career coupled with the word “scholarship” into your search engine and see what you can find.
Professional Organizations
Do you belong to any professional organizations? If you are a member of a union or association, you may find that there are scholarship opportunities that you have missed. If you belong to any type of organization, make some phone calls and find out if there are scholarships offered that you may qualify for. Additionally, if you belong to any type of Greek organization or honor society, look to see what scholarships and awards these associations offer their members.
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program is an excellent one to participate in. Congress has appropriated funds for the program which aims to strengthen the relationship between the United States and other countries around the world. Award recipients are eligible to study, teach English, or conduct research in 140 different countries. To qualify for the award, you must have earned your bachelor’s degree or have extensive experience in the field that you are interested in pursuing.
Though it can be difficult to find funding for graduate school outside of student loans, awards are out there. Get creative and put out your feelers. Whether you utilize a scholarship from your college, from an organization or from the government, you may find it easier to pay for graduate school than you think.
Nicole Morgan is a career counselor, and blogs for accreditedonlinembaguides.org where you can find information about aacsb mba online programs.




