Does Stanford offer good financial aid for Graduate Students?

I know Stanford has GREAT, financial aid... just about the best, but is it not as great for Graduate Students?





Is this the same for other schools?


If a school would offer someone a certain amount of money to go there as an undergrad, would that amount change if you're a graduate?


Do they somehow offer less to graduates?


If so, why?



Andrea:





As you have correctly surmised, the amount of readily available financial aid to graduate students pales in comparison to the funds available for undergraduates.





The underlying premise is also probably pretty much what you would guess - given the limited amount of funding available to support higher education, the prevailing bias is to commit the lion's share of these funds to the subsidization of undergraduate education. Students who choose to attend graduate school are seen as having already had their shot at financial aid - and are seen as pursuing an even more optional educational path.





The federal government offers only Stafford and PLUS lending to graduate students (no grants), and most institutions expend far more of their endowment funds on the support of undergraduate programs.





Many graduate programs offer stipends to their students - to 'pay' them for research or teaching assistanceships.





Students who elect to attend graduate school are expected - even more so than undergrads - to self-fund their education. Graduate students have access to much larger loan amounts, and those comprise the predominant form of funding support to post-baccalaureate study.





Good luck with your graduate work!




I don't know but they do have free college for anyone whose parents make under $100,000 not sure if you can get that for grad school though