Financing Your Degree - Master's Programs

Our Commitment

Master's students receive financial support from a variety of sources, including personal savings, fellowships, and hourly/assistantship work. In addition, the financial aid office will help graduate students cover the cost of attendance from a variety of loan sources. All applicants are considered for merit-based fellowships.

Tuition Fellowships

Tuition fellowships for MA students are merit-based and are awarded along with the offer of admission. Program Directors and the Deans, who carefully review each file, award tuition fellowships. In the case that an offer letter does not include fellowship information, a fellowship could not be offered. Fellowship offers are final and are not able to be negotiated.

Financial Aid Loans

It is important for all prospective students who will need financial aid to apply for loans through the Financial Aid Office. Students who are applying for financial aid (loans) through the central financial aid office should answer "Yes" to the question on the application form asking whether or not financial aid from Stanford is being sought. We encourage all applicants to apply by March 1 to ensure financial aid package information by April 15.

Applying for loans requires two forms (the FAFSA and the Graduate Loan Application form). Both forms are available at the financial aid office website. After completed both forms, processing by the central financial aid office can take 6-8 weeks. Communication regarding financial aid occurs in Axess, so please follow the directions from the financial aid office to set up your account.

International Students

International students are not eligible for federal loan programs and may qualify for private/alternative loans. Many lenders, however, typically require that a US citizen or permanent resident be a co-signer on the loan. A comprehensive list of private loan programs is available at FinAid.org.

Travel Fellowships

SUSE provides travel fellowships to master's students who present a paper at a conference. Students must provide proof of their presenting a paper at a conference, and must be registered in the quarter in which funds are awarded. Students may receive one travel fellowship while in the program.

Paid Internships

For those programs that require completion of an internship or practicum, students are able to work off-campus in paid or unpaid internships up to 10 hours per week, during the academic year. Availability of paid internships varies with economic conditions in the area. Paid internships may be arranged based on agreement between the student and the internship organization. Internships cannot be arranged in advance of admission to the program. For more information please contact the Director of Career Services at SUSE.

Part-Time Work and Consulting

Educational laboratories, educational consulting firms, and local school districts sometimes need part-time employees. Students in master's programs, other than STEP, may have the opportunity to participate in part-time paid work. Permission from the Program Director should be granted before beginning work.

Fellowships and Grants

Graduate education is a significant investment and students should learn as much as possible about the financial aspects before applying. The majority of MA students in our programs fund their education through loans and personal savings. Admits who are eligible are encouraged to fill out their FAFSA and Stanford’s Graduate Student Loan application as soon as possible. 

The ICE MA Fund was established in 2004 by graduates of the ICE/IEAPA MA Program to support academic and professional development (e.g., MA paper research, conferences) in the field of International Comparative Education and to create the opportunity to further explore individual or group ideas, interests, and/or projects for students currently enrolled in the ICE/IEAPA MA Program. Awards are based on merit and are given to students who show exceptional commitment to developing the field of International Comparative Education. Current ICE/IEAPA MA students are provided with application materials in January of their program year. Awards range from $50-550 depending on research needs. 

In addition, the Fellowships and Grants information offers an array of external funding opportunities designed to respond to a wide range of interests.

Special Note to International Students

To meet immigration regulations, international students must show proof of adequate financial support to cover the length of time of their graduate program. Students from foreign countries compete equally with U.S. citizens for fellowship support from SUSE. However, international students are not eligible to receive loans through Stanford. Many international students at SUSE support their cost of attendance from family funds or from corporations, universities, or governments.

Some international applicants to the MA programs in ICE/IEAPA may be eligible for special fellowships. In all cases, recipients are selected by SUSE faculty. The Bei Shan Tang Foundation International Scholarship Fund allows SUSE to provide scholarships to applicants from Hong Kong. In 2011-2012, the Lemann Foundation will award funds for up to two ICE/IEAPA students from Brazil. The Claudio X. Gonzalez Graduate Student Aid Fund provides financial support through fellowships to ICE/IEAPA students who are citizens of Mexico. For more information on these programs, please contact the ICE/IEAPA Program Director Prof. Christine Min Wotipka: cwotipka@stanford.edu.

Cost of Attendance and Tuition

All MA programs are one-year programs, with the exception of the Joint MA/MBA program and the Joint MA/JD. Some MA programs include summer quarter and some do not. Tuition varies between Master's programs and depends on the units taken by the student. The costs in the table below reflect tuition in 2012-13. Updated tuition for the next academic year will be available in March.

TUITION 2012-2013 (next academic year tuition available in March, 2013)

*LDT students are required to enroll in 6 units in the summer quarter. The remaining 39 units need to be completed in Autumn, Winter, Spring quarters.
**Alternatively, ICE/IEAPA students could choose to enroll as follows: $13,750/quarter (11-18 units/qtr) for Autumn, Winter and Spring, plus $2,682 (3 units) for Summer.

The total cost of attendance includes rent, board, travel, books, etc. Stanford's central Financial Aid Office provides estimated costs for student budgets here: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/finaid/grad/budget/index.html