The Daily O’Collegian

Help is available for graduate students looking for financial relief.

Graduate students can take advantage of several financial opportunities at OSU, including graduate assistantships.

Scholarships, tuition waivers, assistantships and student loans are a few ways to help students pay for graduate school.

“The most popular way to pay for graduate school is through an assistantship,” said Mark Payton, professor and associate dean of the Graduate College.

Financial costs of graduate school and debt from undergraduate school discourages some students from entering the graduate program. Many students don’t know about the financial aid that is available.

Students in the graduate program at OSU and students considering entering the program, fret over school expenses, debt and other financial headaches, said Margaret Betts, assistant director of special programs in the office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.

With increased tuition costs and life at the graduate level “everything is more expensive, so there is an opportunity for increased debt,” Betts said.

Graduate assistantships help with shocking debt after graduation by decreasing the debt through financial programs available in the graduate program.

Most students pay for graduate school through an assistantship in which the student becomes a graduate assistant, a teacher assistant or a research assistant, which are hired through the students departments, Payton said.

Most students on assistantships work 20 hours a week and are paid about $700-$800 a month, but it really depends on the department and its demand for workers; some are paid considerably more, Payton said.

The science departments pay more for an assistantship than some of the arts and humanities, Payton said.

The Spears School of Business pays lower stipends, not because its people are in demand, but because the degrees are in demand, Payton said.

“It’s economics really — supply and demand,” Payton said.

Sally Stevens, a student in the Graduate College working on her masters in English as a Second Language, works 20 hours a week as a TA for her department and is paid $1,080 a month.

“I like the program so far,” Stevens said. “It gives you a nice balance of experience and work.”

Stevens, originally from Texas, chose OSU’s graduate program because of the assistantship, which pays for six hours of her tuition per semester. She said that she also really likes the program in her department.

The personnel in the Scholarships and Financial Aid Department help students be aware of their financial options and teach students to be good consumers.

“We want students to make good choices in how they fund their education, and that’s what we’re here to do,” Betts said.

Graduate school tuition fees for an Oklahoma resident are $148 per credit hour and for a non-Oklahoma resident it is $554.75 per credit hour, according to http://www. bursar.okstate.edu/tuition.