$26,000/year in spending money...for Holmes???

[JVS]

61. In my experience

Grad programs (not to be confused with law school, med school, and business school which are technically professional schools) work as follows.

Most programs only admit students that they can afford to fund for several years, although occasionally a student is admited without funding and has to pay their way. Funding is usually done through teaching or research assistantships. Most of the un-funded students I've encountered have been from China and funded by their government. I've also seen a few members of the military who remained in active duty while following orders to obtain masters degrees in certain fields. Their tuition was paid by the army and they received no stipend, living instead from their much higher salaries as officers. The typical RA/TA makes about $15k per year plus free tuition but might have a few hundred dollars in insurance and registration fees per semester. Better stipends can be earned by trying to get more teaching or research duties or applying for fellowships (both within and outside of the university), which provide a salary plus tuition waiver without any teaching or lab duties.