Financial Assistance
For the Master's Program in the Psychology Department at the University of the Pacific
As a potential applicant to a private university, you may be concerned about high tuition rates and decide that it is much too expensive for you. We wish to reassure you that it may not be.
First, and most important, in a typical year almost all graduate students in Psychology receive a substantial amount of financial aid, which includes the remission of a substantial portion of your tuition costs plus a stipend for performing a job (e.g., teaching assistant, traineeship in departmental treatment programs for the mentally disabled or the developmentally disabled).
Over the past several academic years, 100% of students (both first and second year) were receiving substantial amounts of tuition remission (covering approximately 80%-90% of their total tuition costs), and 100% of our students received stipends. Therefore, if you feel the nature of the program meets your needs and goals, we encourage you to apply.
Second, you may be assuming that graduate students take 15-16 units a semester, as undergraduates do. However, graduate students in Psychology take only 8-10 units a semester during their first year of study.
Thus, for the 2008-09 academic year, the total tuition for first-year graduate students taking 16 units (8 per semester) was $15,323 ($952/unit), but tuition remission covered approximately 85% of the tuition costs.
During the second year of study, graduate students take fewer units, typically 6 units in the fall and 8 units in the spring. Tuition remission will reduce these costs by 75% or more for most students.