SOUTH CAROLINA TEACHER LOAN PROGRAM:

The South Carolina Teacher Loan Program loans money to speech-language pathology students who intend to work in the South Carolina public schools upon graduation. The loan is forgiven at the rate of 20% per year of public school employment (i.e., 5 years of school employment means the loan is forgiven).

STAFFORD FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS:

Stafford loans support both undergraduate and graduate students. There are two important facets to this loan. First, graduate students (unlike undergraduates) are considered independent of their parents. Thus, they are eligible for these loans irrespective of how much money their parents make. The federal government will provide loans to graduate students of $20,500 per year (the first $8,500 is subsidized - meaning the government pays the interest). Second, repayment of Stafford Loans may be deferred if the student works for three years in a federally designated teacher shortage area. For information on teacher loan deferments, click here.

FEDERAL WORK-STUDY:

The Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program provides funds for part-time jobs which allow students to earn money needed to pay for educational expenses. Work-Study awards are a form of federal financial aid. Positions are available both on and off campus. Students are encouraged to find positions that provide work experience in their field of study or provide valuable service to the community. Jobs are advertised on this Web Site. For more information, click here.

GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS:

A graduate assistant works part-time in a variety of capacities, depending on the nature of the funding. The student may be hired by a faculty member to perform research related to a grant-funded project or by a department to assist in various clerical duties. Graduate assistants must be full-time students and are considered either quarter-time (10 hours of work per week) or half-time assistants (20 hours of work per week). However, given the extensive scheduling of clinical practicum in the MSP program, COMD students are discouraged from pursuing a 20-hour assistantship. The only exception would be if the assistantship permitted the flexibility to complete work requirement during weekends. Importantly, while the amount of money paid by an assistantship varies slightly depending on the source of funding, assistantships allow all students to pay lower in-state tuition rates, regardless of their residency. These Graduate Assistantships may be found by contacting directly faculty members having active research funding, or departments on campus. Information may also be available from our Graduate Admissions Counselor, Teresa Boyett.

GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS AND TRAINEESHIPS:

The USC Graduate Incentive Fellowship Program is designed to support African American students pursuing graduate degrees in underrepresented disciplines. Applicants must be South Carolina residents and full-time students at the University of South Carolina. The application deadline is mid March of the year in which you are seeking funding. The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders has two externally-funded fellowship programs designed to help fill speech pathology vacancies in the public schools. Project SLP-RRS (Recruitment and Retention in Schools) is supported by a grant from the South Carolina Department of Education, while the School Partnership Program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Recipients of either funding agree to work in the South Carolina Public Schools upon graduation for a specified period of time, depending on the number of years of funding. Students interested in pursuing funding from either of these programs should contact Teresa Boyett.

THE WEBBER SCHOLARSHIP:

COMD alumna Sharon G. Webber (1981) and her husband, Thomas, have built a highly successful company serving the needs of the field of communication sciences and disorders, “Super Duper Publications.” The Webbers are paving the way for others who have entered the profession through an annual scholarship for master’s level students in Communication Sciences & Disorders at USC. The Webber scholarship awards the student $1,000 each semester in the fall and spring of their final year of graduate school.