Funding Your Graduate Education

Only unsubsidized federal loans are available to Graduate students. The loan accrues interest while students are enrolled and students can opt to pay on the interest while in-school or defer all payments until after graduation. Direct unsubsidized loans have annual and aggregate loan limits. The annual loan limit is $20,500 for the academic year which runs from Fall through Summer. The aggregate or lifetime loan limit which includes any Direct or Stafford loans borrowed as an Undergraduate is $138,500. 

For Direct Unsubsidized Loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2024, and before July 1, 2025:

• Interest Rate 8.08% 

• Origination Fee 1.057% 

  Rates and fees are set annually by the Federal Government. 

Understand how interest is calculated and what fees are associated with your federal student loan.

Graduate Direct PLUS loans are federal loans available to help fill the gap between your expenses and other financial aid and payments.

These are available to students pursuing a Graduate degree. They are credit-based and an application is required. Don't confuse this with a Parent Plus Loan. As a Graduate student, your parent is no longer eligible to apply for this loan.

For Direct PLUS Loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2024, and before July 1, 2025:

• Interest Rate 9.08% 
• Origination Fee 4.228% 

*Rates and fees are set annually by the Federal Government. 

Understand how interest is calculated and what fees are associated with your federal student loan.

Learn more about Direct PLUS Loans on the Financial Aid TV site

Wentworth President’s Merit Award

All full-time applicants are automatically reviewed for merit scholarships by Admissions. Merit scholarship awards are based on past academic and professional achievements. Wentworth students continuing directly from their undergraduate program will automatically receive their undergraduate merit scholarship for their graduate program.  

Please note: 

• Alumni who will have completed a degree from Wentworth are automatically considered for the scholarships when they are admitted into a graduate program. 

Wentworth Institute of Technology now offers Graduate Fellowships opportunities. These allow students to work for the university while studying to earn an additional $4,500 over the academic year.

The work will consist of approximately 10hrs/week, with the positions varying from studio/lab fellows, research fellows, teaching fellows, and tutors. These opportunities are a great way to earn money to finance your studies and are an excellent opportunity to enhance your resume for your future employment. These positions are limited. Admitted students will be invited to apply if their program qualifies and still has open positions available.

Once awarded, the Graduate Fellowship positions are renewable for the length of your program, not to exceed two academic years, provided you are enrolled as a full-time student, you are in good academic and conduct standing, and you meet the minimum academic standards set by the program

Scholarship Universe is an outside scholarship search, match, and application tool that all Wentworth students can utilize.

Students log in using their Wentworth username and password to create a profile and start matching to scholarships.

Scholarships are open to incoming first-year students, returning students and graduate students and all scholarships are vetted and approved by Scholarship Universe.

Wentworth provides links to tools and resources to help connect you with scholarships to help pay for your education. The links listed below are available to the public free of charge.  Exercise caution of any organization, business, or company that requires a "finder's fee" or makes any guarantees they can find you aid.  Feel free to utilize the below search engines to make sure your applications are legitimate. 

The following scholarship search engines are free to use for the public: 

• FastWeb

• Unigo

• Career One Stop

• Last Mile Education Fund

For a list of scholarship websites that include options for international students, please see our Graduate International Students page.

We recommend all applicants complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, to determine their eligibility for student financial aid. It is free, opens on October 1st annually for the following academic year, and available online at studentaid.gov

In order to be eligible for any of the Federal Aid programs a student must: 

• be admitted to an eligible program 
• be a US citizen or Eligible Non-Citizen 
• not owe a refund on a grant or be in default status on any federal student loan 
• not have borrowed in excess of the annual aggregate loan limits 
• be enrolled at least half time (5 credits for Graduate Students) for Federal Direct loans per semester 
• maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) 

Graduate students are considered independent students and do not need to provide parental data on the FAFSA. 

You will need to check the box 6 for Question 29: 1st year college graduate/professional and box 8 for Question 30: College graduate or professional degree 

FAFSA question snapshot 

Once they have completed a bachelor’s degree, students are no longer eligible for any federal grant funds including the Federal Pell and SEOG grants nor are they eligible for the Federal Subsidized Stafford loans. 

Graduate students are eligible for Federal Unsubsidized Stafford loans up to $20,500 per academic year. They may also apply for a Federal Graduate PLUS loan. 

Graduate students must be enrolled at least half-time (5 or more credits) per semester to be eligible for the loans. 

If you are graduating from a full-time undergraduate program at Wentworth directly preceding your attendance as a full-time graduate student, under most circumstances, the merit scholarship received as an undergraduate will remain during your graduate program.  

For example, as an undergraduate in Construction Management a student received a $10,000 merit scholarship.  If that student is graduating with a BS in Construction Management in August 2021 and begins a MS in Project Management program in September 2021, providing they attend full-time and maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA, they will continue to receive that $10,000 merit scholarship. 

Full-time students coming from outside of Wentworth may also qualify for merit scholarship funding.  Merit is awarded at the time of Admission. 

Institutional aid, including merit-based scholarships, is typically not awarded to part-time students. Some of our graduate programs are designed for part-time enrollment; offering scholarships that are based off program that is planned to be part-time. We recommend reaching out to our Graduate Admissions team to determine if your program can be done part-time.

For full-time programs, your scholarship requires that you enroll full-time in order to maintain it. For federal aid, you need to enroll in at least 5 credits per semester to be considered half-time and to be eligible for federal loan programs.

Yes, you can use financial aid, including loans, to help assist with the costs of living off-campus. If you are relying on a refund from an over-payment, keep in mind that fall refund checks are generally not available until mid-October, spring checks until mid-February, and summer checks until mid-June. Make sure you plan to pay your rent for these months.

Actively Serving, veterans, ROTC, and family members who may be eligible for benefits are encouraged to work with our Military-Connected services office to determine their eligibility and benefit amounts.

For more information on how to apply and determine your eligibility, please review your specific information on our Military-Connected Services site.

Wentworth has partnered with Flywire to offer interest-free monthly payment plans for each semester. For more information, please visit our Student Accounts Payment Plan page.

Financial aid offer letters will include your financial aid and general estimated costs for the academic year. To project an accurate cost, it's important you know that graduate students at Wentworth are billed at a per-credit cost. You should review the catalog to determine your plan for completing your degree and how many credits per semester you will need to take to estimate your tuition for your own planned enrollment as everyone's situation is different. The academic year for financial aid includes the fall, spring, and summer semesters in one year, the next academic year starting over with the following fall.