Graduate Student Aid
FAFSA
The most important thing you can do to get financial aid is to fill out the FAFSA.
You may be familiar with the FAFSA from your undergraduate days. But while your parents may have filled it out previously, now it’s up to you. As a graduate student, you’ll be considered an independent student. That means you’ll use your own financial information, rather than your parents’, on the FAFSA.
Direct Unsubsidized Loans — Eligible graduate students who are fully admitted to a master’s program and who are enrolled in 6+ credit hours may borrow up to $20,500 per school year.
- Student who are admitted to a post-baccalaureate teacher certification program or second bachelor’s degree are subject to undergraduate annual limits and aggregates and are eligible for up to $12,500 annually. Students may review their federal loan borrowing on www.studentaid.gov to determine remaining eligibility.
- Post-Bachelor Teacher Certification – requires 6+ hours from the students required course listing per semester to be eligible for federal loans.
- Second Bachelor – requires 6+ hours to receive a federal loan - the student’s annual loan limit is determined by the number of hours accepted towards the 2nd degree. (Ex. If 50 hours are accepted towards the 2nd degree, the student will be packaged as a Sophomore.)
Direct Grad PLUS Loans (https://studentaid.gov/plus-app/grad/landing) - Eligible graduate students who need to borrow more than the maximum unsubsidized loan amounts to meet their education costs may apply for a PLUS loan up to their maximum annual cost of attendance. A credit check will be completed during the application process. 6 or more credit hours of enrollment is required for all federal loans. Get more information about federal student loans at StudentAid.gov/loans. Teacher Certification and Second Bachelor students are not eligible for PLUS loans.
Private/Alternative Loans - https://www.eiu.edu/finaid/loan.php#priv_alt_loans
Click here to search a list of preferred lenders.
Scholarships
Scholarships specific to EIU’s Graduate School can be found here: https://www.eiu.edu/graduate/students_awards_scholarships.php
Additional university scholarships can be found on our scholarship search: eiu.academicworks.com.
Work on Campus and Graduate Assistantships
Student Employment - https://www.eiu.edu/humanres/student_employment.php
More information on assistantships can be found on the Graduate School page: https://www.eiu.edu/graduate/students_assistantships.php.