Considering these graduate schools

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I would suggest some further criteria be included in your decision process.

1) What percentage of graduate students in the program (not the school) complete their degrees?

2) What percentage of those who complete the degree program find employment in your intended field?

3) Who are the faculty, what are their interests, and are there multiple faculty whose interests align with yours.


Picking a graduate program is very different from deciding where to go to college. And, speaking as a graduate student at Florida State University, I would caution against refusing to attend a program because it is part of a large school. Most of your work will be done within the context of a very small number of graduate students, overseen by the faculty in the department. It is nothing like attending a large state university as an undergraduate.

It's not so much class sizes, it's that larger colleges are more expensive, and accessibility isn't as good. One would be frequently dealing with overcrowded college buses, and exorbitantly priced parking stickers.

At UT Austin, stickers were $700, last time I checked. I paid $195 for my parking sticker at Texas State, which has about 30,000 students.

How is the general cost of living at each of these places? Rent, utilities, food, etc.?
Also, do the programs at these schools offer a stipend to their graduate students? How much is that stipend and does it come from the school or does it come from you/your fellowship?

I am trying to find something where I can work full-time, and can do my program part-time, that way, I won't have to take out huge student loans, and can pay tuition in cash.

So basically, it's primarily financial issues that are the obstacle. Even then, a master's degree is not required for my field of study, and if I do pursue one, I won't start immediately after getting my bachelor's degree.

Just the same, I advise you to check into these carefully. My large state school, for instance, provides graduate students with one 'free' parking sticker each year. Of course, this cost is probably rolled into the student fees at some point, but even these are around a total of $600. Someone mentioned scholarships earlier, but depending on the school, you are more likely to receive funding from the department as either a teaching assistant, or as a research assistant. These can make for fairly good deals. At my school, most students in my cohort received a full waiver of tuition for 4 years, access to University health insurance (such as it is), and a living stipend comparable to what would be received from a job paying $6 an hour for 40 hours. Your decision should include consideration of the availability of such funding.

All those schools in Florida sound good. I had ruled out UF in Gainesville because of its size, though.

I would definitely choose Florida over California any day.