Graduate school is prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, a variety of grants for graduate students are available to help partially or completely offset the cost of graduate school. To increase your chances of receiving funding, apply for as many grants as possible. Many different agencies, including academic departments, corporations, and governments, offer graduate student grants, and each one should be pursued. Each grant application should be tailored to the target audience, submitted on time, and backed up by a strong academic record and carefully chosen references.
Graduate students can apply for grants from a variety of agencies and institutions. Every grant category should be pursued. Grants with small applicant pools, such as those for study of comparatively obscure subjects or those offered only to a small pool of potential applicants, should be given special consideration, as the chances of landing a relatively obscure grant are often much better than those of landing a highly prestigious and well-known grant.
The majority of departments provide financial aid to their students. The scope of these grants varies, from endowed multi-year fellowships to small grants to support small research projects or conference travel. Grants and fellowships will be kept on file in each department. Some of these will be covered as part of the standard graduate funding application process. However, many others, such as travel and small research grants, are simple to obtain if a student takes the time to apply.
Grants from outside agencies will almost always have some sort of agenda attached to them. For example, the US State Department offers a number of travel, research, and language study grants. These are intended to provide useful information to the State Department as well as to assist in the training of a potential pool of experts in areas of national interest. For similar reasons, most governments and many corporations provide grants. When applying for these grants, emphasize how the proposed project meets the needs of the government, institution, or corporation that is providing the funding.
The application packet is crucial when applying for graduate student grants. References should be carefully chosen, with priority given to major professors first, followed by other faculty members who can provide strong positive references and effectively speak to the grant’s subject. Application materials should be submitted as soon as possible, and any additional application requirements, such as language or physical exams, should be addressed as soon as possible.