Funding Your MSI Degree

Housing, food, tuition, school supplies, transportation - the cost of a program can be a determining factor when it comes to applying for graduate school. Here at UMSI, we don’t want financial burden to stop you from applying. Therefore, I have put together a quick summary of the opportunities available for you at UMSI (or outside of UMSI) to make your degree affordable.

*I also want to emphasize that UMSI has a continuously expanding network of connections in the industry that offer many opportunities for extra earning if money is a concern. Imagine receiving at least 3 to 4 job postings in a day through emails! (because we do!)

Scholarships

• Merit-based
• To be considered in the first round for the merit based scholarships, be sure to submit your MSI application by January 15, 2018! Later rounds of scholarship are reviewed on a rolling basis after the January 15 deadline.
• Merit scholarships cover partial to full tuition for the program. And it’s evaluated based on the application materials you submit for your MSI application - no additional application is required.
• Diversity
• These scholarships vary from partial to full tuition and are evaluated based on your engagement and background in different forms of diversity.
• Matching-funds
• Did you know that for every external scholarship you apply and are awarded in your first year of the MSI program, you can apply for matching funds through UMSI? This means if you receive $5,000 through external scholarship, UMSI will match that and award you with an additional $5,000! Students can receive matching funds up to $10,000.
• External scholarships
• To start, this page on our website includes a lot of good resources for external scholarships for students outside of UMSI and the University of Michigan: https://www.si.umich.edu/academics/funding/external-scholarships
• Although external scholarships often don’t cover your full tuition, they are very helpful in covering at least some portions of your tuition for the program. Some websites suggested by current students and alumni for external scholarships include the following: Petersons, FastWeb, CollegeNet
• International Students
• It is not easy for international students to find funding opportunities, but be sure to check out this page: https://www.si.umich.edu/academics/funding/funding-information-international-students
• International students are also eligible for our school’s merit-based scholarship opportunities as well as other on-campus job offers.

On-campus Opportunities

• GSI/GSRA
• GSI stands for Graduate Student Instructor and GSRA stands for Graduate Student Research Assistant. These two positions are paid positions for graduate students to engage in teaching and research opportunities and work with faculty and professors. They cover tuition of the program, stipend, and health benefits. While it is not typical to see first year students working as a GSI or GSRA in the MSI program, graduate students can apply to be GSI for other programs on campus, such as psychology, statistics, and business.
• Emails are typically sent out during the summer for the fall semester for GSI positions.
• Part-time positions
• There are many part-time opportunities on campus available for students in the MSI program. Anyone who wants a part time job, will have a part time job! For example, the University of Michigan Library often look for graduate students to work with. Other departments also have job postings that you can apply for, such as web designer or graphic designer. You will soon see these opportunities flying across your email inbox soon after you start the program (or even before you start!).

Tips

Finally, I have 3 tips for you!

1. Start early (basically not the week before the final deadline)
• No matter if it’s an application for a graduate school or an application for a scholarship/funding opportunity, starting early is the key. Researching funding opportunities takes time, having someone else proofread your application material takes time, making iterations and revisions take time; with that said, start early!
2. Research
• Do your research. There are many scholarships available outside of UMSI and often no one applies to these scholarships. Don’t rely on one single source and look through other scholarship or job-finding sites.
3. Apply!
• Nothing will happen if you don’t start your application - unfortunately. So my best tips for you really is: take that one step to start your application! Chances only exist when you apply!

For more information about funding your degree, check out this page: https://www.si.umich.edu/academics/funding-your-degree