Financial Information for the Prospective GFD Graduate-Student

Money is a major consideration for many prospective graduate students; sometimes it is the most important influence on their choice of where to pursue their degree. But it is not easy to tell which program offers the better deal. One difficulty is that the cost of living varies widely throughout the U.S. The same amount of money may be worth more or less in different parts of the country, and tuition and fees vary to reflect this.

Financial aid also varies to reflect cost of living, but it takes many forms: stipends (wages for part-time teaching or research work), fellowships or scholarships (cash awards that need not be repaid), waivers or credits (relieving the student of the need to pay tuition or fees), and more. Most programs offer different combinations of these rather than a simple cash sum, making it doubly difficult to determine which program offers "the best deal." To help you, we've made a table comparing costs and financial aid options at FSU and some other institutions.

2004 Graduate Student Costs and Aid at Major Universities*

School	Tuition & Fees	Expenses	Total	Tuition Waiver?	Other Aid	After Expenses	Normalized	Rate
GA Inst. of Tech.	$16,268	$8,650	$24,918	full	$20,000	$11,350	$11,094	103%
FSU/GFDI	$15,554	$7,933	$23,487	full	$16,000	$8,067	$8,067	100%
U. Virginia	$22,890	$8,875	$31,765	full	$15,120	$6,245	$5,358	110%
Colorado State	$14,967	$9,645	$24,612	full	$22,302	$12,657	$12,175	105%
SUNY Albany	$21,871	$5,247	$27,118	full	$9,000	$3,753	$4,540	85%
UCLA	$22,983	$12,297	$35,280	partial	14,357	$2,06o	$-399	120%
U. Washington	$16,939	$8,380	$25,319	partial	$17,340	$8,960	$7,116	122%
U. C. Berkeley	$14,210	$6,832	$21,042	partial	$28,668	$21,836	$19,376	136%
U.Chicago	$28,689	$10,157	$38,846	full	$14,706	$3,910	$-1,464	153%
U. Oregon	$13,698	$10,030	$23,719	full	$13,000	$2,970	$2,368	106%
MIT/WHOI	$29,600	$12,000	$41,600	full	$18,270	$17,070	$2,310	130%

* For a period of one academic or calendar year (9-12 months), based on information given by Universities' webpages. The 7th column gives the amount of financial-aid money a student might have left after expected expenses; negative numbers indicate amounts owed. The 8th column gives this amount adjusted for the differing purchasing power of currency in different parts of the United States. This "inflation" rate is given in the last column, and was derived from information given by various online cost-of-living calulators, such as this one, from MonsterMoving.com. Another is provided by Homefair.com.