I’ve been searching for scholarships for the last month or so (got into a PhD program without full funding and trying to make up the gap).
I’m going to make a list here of resources I’ve used for the school I’m attending. I would see If the school you were accepted to has similar opportunity.
For disclosure I was accepted and I’ll be attending Indiana University. Since it’s a bigger university it may have more opportunities than smaller schools (but that doesn’t mean I’ll find funding better than y’all)
Want an assistantship?
Check your universities job posting page and search for assistantships or hourly on campus jobs that could help pay your way through. If you don’t currently have an assistantship this would be a godsend. My school has a Graduate Assistantship board and a separate job board. It seems up to the department offering the GA as to where it shows up. Be vigilant and search around your university website as much as you can for funding.
- Still can’t find assistantships or positions?
Sometimes positions aren’t advertised or they are still waiting on funding decisions. If you know a center, institute, department or place on campus that would benefit from someone with your set of skills shoot the director (or another leader) an email. Tell them in less than 4 sentences : who you are, that you are entering a program; and the kind of position you are looking for. Thank them for their time and send. If you want to attach a resume or CV that’ll help too. This is how I got my current position. I emailed a director who said she recently got funds to hire another person and needed someone with my background.
- Scholarship Search #1:
NASP has a scholarship for minority students link here
- Scholarship Search #2:
Check your state school psychology association. Indiana and my home state of Ohio have smaller scholarships (that are primarily for EdS level students) available to current and incoming students.
- Scholarship Search #3:
Reach out to your program staff to inquire about fellowships and other scholarships that might be available through your college. I applied for an internal fellowship (in my department) given to students with a practice and research goal of working with adolescent mental health issues. I ended up getting 12k from it which knocked a lot off of out of state tuition. I was also able to find 4 other scholarships within my university that met my background, interests and career goals. While I may not end up getting them it’s still always worth a shot applying!
- Scholarship Search #4:
Lastly try national or regional scholarship searches. You can use terms related to your background experience (special ed, psychology, etc), work or extracurricular experience (behavior tech, work with kids, sports, clubs, Greek life, volunteering, etc). Here are some sites that I’ve used. Found a few scholarships on here but I haven’t gotten any yet so I won’t comment on whether they are worth your time.