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Financial Aid

Financial assistance may be an important consideration in deciding to attend graduate school. There are several sources for financial aid for PPPM students that are described below.

Federal Aid

  • FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid. FAFSA distributes 80 billion dollars a year in financial aids to students through postsecondary institutions. We encourage students to apply for FAFSA to apply to federal student aid such as Pell grants, student loans and college work-study. For more information and web application process, please visit their website here. 
  • College Work Study. There are many opportunities for those with work-study eligibility to work on and off campus in MPA-relevant positions. If you are offered work-study as part of your financial aid package, it is highly recommended that you accept it. You should speak with departmental faculty that you are interested in working with to see if a position can be developed for you. Alternatively, work-study can be used in off campus nonprofit and public agencies. Talk with Rhonda Smith, the PPPM Internship Director about off campus work-study opportunities.
  • Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program - In 2007, Congress created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to encourage individuals to enter and continue to work full-time in public service jobs. Under this program, borrowers may qualify for forgiveness of the remaining balance due on their eligible federal student loans after they have made 120 payments on those loans under certain repayment plans while employed full time by certain public service employers.

University Aid

  • Diversity Excellence Scholarship. The University of Oregon Diversity Excellence Scholarship recognizes the academic achievement and potential of students who, through sharing their varied cultural perspectives, will enhance the education of all students and the excellence of the university. The Diversity Excellence Scholarship (DES) is a tuition-remission scholarship with awards ranging from partial to full tuition and fee waivers. The UO Diversity Excellence Scholarship Selection Committee determines the amount and duration of each award. Recipients must meet specific scholarship-renewal requirements to retain their scholarships. For further information on this award please click here.
  • Graduate Teaching Fellowships (GTF). GTFs include tuition waivers as well as a small salary. Many PPPM students hold GTFs around the university, including in the graduate school, disability services and international programs. These opportunities can be found on the grad school website.  GTF applications for other than PPPM can be found here.
  • Graduate School Fellowships and Awards. 

    Every year, the Graduate School administers several fellowship and award competitions for graduate students such as:

    - Betty Foster-McCue Scholarship for Human Development and Performance
    - Donald and Darel Stein Graduate Student Teaching Award
     - Dan Kimble First Year Teaching Award
    - Gary E. Smith Summer Professional Development Award
    - Margaret McBride-Lehrman Fellowship
    - Margaret Weise Graduate Research Award
    - OUS-SYLFF Fellowship for International Research
    - Southeast Asian Studies Award
    - University Club Foundation Fellowship
    - UO Doctoral Research Fellowship
    - UO Public Impact Fellowship

    The deadlines for these awards vary, February through June. Please read through the award descriptions, eligibility guidelines, application procedures, and deadlines and mark your calendar now! These details can be found on the Graduate School's website:
    http://gradschool.uoregon.edu/fellowships?page=fellowships.

    Contact: gradsch@uoregon.edu; (541) 346-5129.

PPPM Aid

  • Graduate Teaching Fellowships (GTF). The department annually offers teaching, research and administrative GTF positions. These positions include tuition waivers and a small salary. The positions are posted on the student listserv in the spring for the following year.  While most departmental GTF positions are awarded to second year students, a few go to incoming students. We will add incoming students to the list serve so that they can apply for appropriate positions.

International Student

  • International students interested in financial aid opportunities should visit the U of O's International Affairs web page for additional information.

Last Updated November 12, 2012