Applying for graduate school may make pursuing your education feel like eating pennies — getting a master’s often requires boatloads of cash to fund a pricier tuition, out-of-state costs and living arrangements.
According to FinAid.org, the average cost of a master’s degree varies from $30,000 to $120,000, depending on the university and the masters program offered. At Cal State Long Beach, graduate school starts with a $55 nonrefundable application fee and ends with a yearly tuition of $7,718 for California residents.
Similar to pursuing an undergraduate degree, residency also determines graduate school costs. At CSULB, non-California residents receive higher tuition rates for when pursuing post-graduate education — as is the case for all California public universities. For non-residents, an added $372 is tacked on for every unit this graduate student intends on taking — for example, if the non-resident in question wanted to take 12 units per semester, they would multiply 12 by 372 and add the product to the standard total tuition and mandatory fee cost of $3,230. This would land their total yearly cost at around $8,928 per year.
This does not include housing or other mandatory student fees such as health and student government fees.
For California residents who wish to go out-of-state for graduate school, prices tend to rise depending on both the graduate university and the location of the university itself. At Columbia University, yearly graduate tuition costs $44,592 — considering the location of the college (upper Manhattan), costs for housing and other mandatory adult expenses only rise from there.
Located in Norman, Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma’s out-of-state tuition cashes out at a yearly $22,269. According to Payscale, a website that enables users to compare and contrast the costs of living for different locations, a person who makes $10,000 annually and moves to Norman from Long Beach will have a significantly lower cost of living, cost of transportation and cost of groceries. This makes up for a 37 percent overall decrease in expenses when comparing Norman to Long Beach.
In contrast, when moving from Long Beach to New York, New York (where Columbia University is located), that same person will experience a 65 percent increase in overall expenses, with housing costs rising by 119 percent or more.
Within California, residents are typically able to receive subsidized tuition costs when pursuing a higher education at a California State University or University of California school. For example, UC Davis’ graduate school in-state tuition for the 2016-17 school year is $13,242 — alternatively, for non-residents, the yearly tuition rises to $15,102.
While grad students are typically able to qualify for financial aid regardless of the university they select, the amount of aid available to applying students varies from undergraduate to postgraduate. Subsidized and unsubsidized loans are available to undergraduates, while only the latter is available for graduate students.
Subsidized loans such as the Stafford and Perkins Loans are offered to undergraduates on a “need-based” level. Eligibility for these loans are based on a student’s Expected Family Contribution, which is disclosed in the student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid application. Information included in a student’s EFC consists of their income range, household size and dependent information.
Alternatively, unsubsidized loans are “merit-based,” meaning a student may qualify for these loans if they are academically qualifying standards set forth in unsubsidized Stafford and Direct PLUS loans. Both types of loans defer payment until after the degree is completed, but unsubsidized loans immediately begin accruing interest, unlike their counterparts. Grad students also have the option of applying for private loans.
According to the Center for Research and Policy Analysis, this year all interest rates for subsidized and unsubsidized loans dropped for the first time since 2013, thanks to the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act. This law advocated for fixed interest rates for unsubsidized and subsidized loans by deeming the annual treasury market responsible for setting the rate. Since 2013, interest rates on student loans have been annually set according to the economic market.
Since the law passed, interest rates for graduate and undergraduate students have dropped. For grad students, the 2015-16 school year saw an initial 5.4 percent interest, with rates dropping to 5.31 percent for the 2016-17 year.
Subsidized loans for undergraduates are generally capped at $5,000 for the first year, $6,500 the second year and $7,500 for any remaining years, according to Edvisors, an online directory for graduate students looking for loans. On the other hand, graduate students applying for an unsubsidized loan have a larger cap — students can take out $20,500 to $138,500.
According to a report authored by the United States Council of Advisors titled “15 Economic Facts About Millennials,” the total student outstanding loan debt surpassed $1 trillion by the end of 2014, landing college students in the second largest category of household debt.
Despite looming statistics indicating a growing college loan debt among students, current and developing legislative action aims to stabilize the financial endeavors of public college students.