Tools To Help With Grad School Decisions

When it comes to navigating the college process, there are a plethora of free tools and resources offered online and in person by high-school counselors, education companies and the like. But for graduate programs, prospective students may find there’s less hand-holding available.

To help in this effort, Education Finance Council, the national trade association representing nonprofit and state-based student loan organizations, today announced a new online tool that offers students and families information on the graduate school process.

The tool allows families to explore many avenues related to graduate school, including requirements and prerequisites, tips on choosing a program and studying and testing advice. The tool also offers basic information on one of the most vexing issues students interested in graduate programs face—where to find the funds to pay for an advanced degree.

Certainly paying for graduate school can be a bear. On average, the typical graduate student spent $24,812 on school for the academic year 2016-2017, according to Sallie Mae’s most recent How America Pays for Graduate School report.

When it comes to paying for grad schools, options include scholarships and grants, federal work study, federal student loans, private loans and fellowships. Many end up working part-time, or even full-time, as they attend school, and sometimes companies help defray these costs.

If you are looking for free money for grad school, one helpful resource is Sallie Mae’s graduate student scholarship search. You can register online to get free access to 950,000 graduate scholarships, worth up to $1 billion. Sallie Mae has an entire section on its website dedicated to other types of information on graduate school, including how to search for grants and fellowships.

In terms of finding potential schools or getting information about program types or more general grad school knowledge, there’s a world of information available on the web to students willing to surf around. But it’s also nice to have a few go-to resources for information. Beyond the new tool from Education Finance Council, another handy resource is Peterson’s Grad School Search Tool, which has free information on funding your education, test prep and several lists of graduate school programs by vocation. There is also GradTrek, a free search tool for graduate degree programs in the United States.

With any search tool, or online site where you provide user information, just be careful to know how your information is being used and make sure you’re comfortable with that.

Additional Resource

5 Study Tips for Graduate Students

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