Financial Aid

[kit10phish]

I'm starting the application process, and wondered if anyone had advice about financial aid.

I'm not sure if it's critical to this post, but some background about me: I have a B.S. in Animal Science and will be completing my S&HS pre-reqs this December. My GPA is 4.0, I have good GRE scores (I can't remember offhand), and some extracurricular activities promoting audiology within my program at an SLP-focused school. I'm applying to University of Utah, and am set on that school for financial reasons. I'm willing to work or do extra things for the school within reason, as completing the AuD program would be priority.

Ideally, I would like to get some sort of tuition waiver or major scholarship through my potential program instead of taking out more loans. My potential school does not share an overt way to go about this, from what I can tell. 1. How common is program assistance? 2. What types of aid is available and what are the requirements? 3. People who obtained waivers or funding how did you hear about it and apply? 4. I assume I have to write to someone, but I'm not sure who and of course I'm nervous about what to say if I did.

And insight or advice would be appreciated!

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[missdoctormarin]

I received a scholarship for my program, however, it's not enough to cover everything. But it is enough that I may not have to work. Between work study and the scholarship I'll probably be okay. The audiology programs do not get the same funding as others, and most don't offer full scholarships. They'll want some type of work in exchange. Maybe a GA position. But even at my school, the Audiology GA position only offers an Hourly wage, no living stipend or dorm, and no discount on tuition or housing. However, if you're willing to think outside of the box, many other departments offer GA positions where you can land all of that for a mere 20 hours a week of work. It's just a matter of comfort levels. Those programs will usually pay at least half tuition per semester, come with a dorm or housing stipend, living stipend, and maybe a meal plan. Good luck!

 

[kit10phish]

Thank you for your response--good idea about searching for money in other better-endowed programs! I still feel a little behind, like I missed something that everyone else already knows about. . .

If my potential school doesn't outright say what scholarships, GA positions, or other work for tuition/stipend programs are available I'm confused about how to go about finding and securing those. Have other people just written an out-of-the-blue letter to the head of your potential departments, or called the admissions director, or do you just wait for the school to inform you and assume they will? I am certainly willing to do my part or just be patient, but it's very unclear about how I should proceed on the school's web page and I don't want to annoy people who can shape my future by bothering them. Also, I definitely do not want to miss the boat on any deadlines--I know these are usually first come first served opportunities.

I guess I have the same questions about other departments with perhaps more funding--how would I go about finding and applying for such opportunities (if there's no evident application process)?

 

[lstactionxero00]

Most of the time, you will be offered some type funding at the time of your acceptance into a program (if you're a candidate that is highly desired). If a department has extra student funding, they don't usually hold out on telling an individual. Either you are getting some type of funding/tuition waiver/assistantship or you're not. It's pretty simple. Just apply early to programs and if your application is good enough, you'll probably get something.

As far as securing funding from other departments, that seems like it would be next to impossible because any GA/TA/RA positions would be offered to their own students, so I doubt you would be able to really find any of those types of positions in other areas of the school. If you did want to pursue that route, you would have to directly contact each of those department's admissions boards (and those individuals are not usually named as being on admission boards) or the department's HR/hiring individual.

If you're hoping to get something from the speech and hearing department at your intended school, you would need to contact the program coordinator or administrator and just ask who the question would be most appropriate for. Additionally, if you're worried about stepping on the toes of the faculty, you could always ask the coordinator if they maybe have some student email addresses for their program, so you could ask other students directly.

 

[kit10phish]

Thank you! That clarifies the process a lot!

 

[TheEarDoc]

I'm starting the application process, and wondered if anyone had advice about financial aid.

I'm not sure if it's critical to this post, but some background about me: I have a B.S. in Animal Science and will be completing my S&HS pre-reqs this December. My GPA is 4.0, I have good GRE scores (I can't remember offhand), and some extracurricular activities promoting audiology within my program at an SLP-focused school. I'm applying to University of Utah, and am set on that school for financial reasons. I'm willing to work or do extra things for the school within reason, as completing the AuD program would be priority.

Ideally, I would like to get some sort of tuition waiver or major scholarship through my potential program instead of taking out more loans. My potential school does not share an overt way to go about this, from what I can tell. 1. How common is program assistance? 2. What types of aid is available and what are the requirements? 3. People who obtained waivers or funding how did you hear about it and apply? 4. I assume I have to write to someone, but I'm not sure who and of course I'm nervous about what to say if I did.

And insight or advice would be appreciated!

I received a scholarship for 3 years of my program. It did not come close to covering all expenses, but helped keep the cost down.

A lot of your smaller less known schools usually have more money per student because they take smaller classes and need to attract more top tiered students. An AuD is an AuD in my book. I never understood people going 100k in debt to go to a well known school to go out and make the same as someone who spent 30k and got the same education. If you know how to network you can know all the same people as those who go to a big name school and be just as well known in the circle of audiology. You just need to know how to sell yourself and your skill set.

 

[kit10phish]

Good point. After all my undergrad loans, keeping finances as reasonable as possible is my number 1 priority. My current income-to-debt ratio is awful! I also concur, an AuD is an AuD, no matter the school.