What are the costs for graduate programs?  What types of financial aid are available? 

500 words or more

Last week, we took a brief break from focusing on specific psychology subspecialties to talk about career options.  There are numerous sources within the Course Syllabus that you may access to help you as you think about your own interests and goals.

For this purpose of this week’s Forum discussion, we will assume that students in this course are interested in psychology-related careers.  As you’ve discovered by now, the majority of these fields prefer graduate degree holders (there are, of course, opportunities for Bachelor’s level degree holders, but the number of opportunities open widely for those with graduate degrees).

Please explore the following website from the American Psychological Association (APA) before answering the below questions:

http://www.apa.org/education/grad/applying.aspx

Based upon your research on this website, please answer the following questions:

1.  Generally speaking, what pieces of information are applicants to graduate programs in psychology required to provide (e.g., academic information, standardized testing, recommendations, personal information, etc…)?

2.  What are the costs for graduate programs?  What types of financial aid are available?  What are other options (e.g., merit fellowships, assistantships, outside employment)?  How much debt do graduate students generally take on and does that vary based on degree (masters vs. doctoral) or program (e.g., Ph.D. vs. Psy.D.)?

3.  What about accreditation?  How important is it?  How can prospective students differentiate between quality programs and programs that could actually hinder their chances for professional internships or future employment?