This isn’t a brag, I’m just curious. My son is a grad student at a good state school, and he accepted an assistantship that covers his tuition. He says there’s no need to apply for FAFSA or the school’s general scholarship application. My thought is that it can’t hurt, especially since there might be grad-level scholarships available. Is he right? I know I could call the school, but I don’t want to meddle. Just wondering what others think.
This sounds like a pretty standard setup for grad school! He’ll likely have a couple of years of classes, then a few years of research for his dissertation. With the assistantship, he’ll get a stipend while working as a teaching assistant (grading, running labs, or helping with classes) or research assistant if his advisor has grant money. The pay is usually similar either way.
The stipend is often for 9 months, with an extra contract for the summer. Most programs expect students to stick around during the summer to keep working on research or take fast-paced summer classes.
The tuition waiver is a great benefit. He might still owe some fees (like library or gym fees), but those vary by school and aren’t too high. Those fees are usually due before the first paycheck, so make sure he’s ready for that.
As for scholarships, he should definitely look into things like the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship or other university awards. They’re not strictly necessary if his tuition and stipend cover everything, but extra funding is always helpful.
@Aris
Short answer: He should apply for scholarships if he wants extra money, but he’s in good shape with the tuition waiver and stipend either way.
It’s always a good idea to renew FAFSA and fill out the general scholarship application. It’s better to have extra aid offered and not need it than to need it later and not have it available.
He still needs to fill out FAFSA. That’s how they figure out what scholarships or financial aid he qualifies for. Even if his tuition and fees are covered, there might still be other expenses. Without FAFSA, he could miss out on opportunities for more funding.
Edit: Applying for aid never hurts. The worst they can say is no, and if he doesn’t apply, he risks losing his assistantship or other funding because the paperwork wasn’t done.
Let him handle it. He’s an adult and can figure this out.