Prospective undergraduates around the country are, if they’re smart, spending some time on their financial aid applications this month. Would-be graduate students should be doing the same.

One year of graduate school in the United States costs thousands of dollars, and four out of five grad students receive some sort of financial aid. Experts agree that graduate schools award money based on merit more than they do based on need, and there’s less money to go around.

But there are ways to beef up your chances. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance has these suggestions for increasing your likelihood of getting an award:

Don’t wait to ask for financial aid. Fellowship, scholarship and assistantship decisions are usually made at the university’s departmental level, and they’re made early in the process. So request aid early - and don’t worry, it won’t hurt your admissions chances. If you’re giving up a salary to go back to school, let the school know.

Network as much as you can. Talk to professors in various departments and look for individuals willing to lobby for you. If you’re not applying until next fall, make contacts at various programs to ask for guidance. They’ll pay off when you’re in the thick of the application process.

Enhance your resume. Your admission will depend heavily on your undergrad grade point average and the quality of the institution, your recommendations and other accomplishments. And so does your chances for financial aid. Play up strengths as much as you can and call attention to the ones that your transcript may not necessarily display.

Consider going all the way. If it makes sense, go for a Ph.D. instead of just a master’s. Doctoral candidates have higher chances of getting free money.

Look for outside funding. Find a company or organization that might benefit from your research and sell yourself to them. It may even lead to a job in the end.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 14th, 2007 at 5:41 am and is filed under Education, Financial Aid. Tags: Fellowship, Financial Aid, Scholarship, Student. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.