Fellowships and Trainee Programs for MLS Students

willpie writes “My fiancee is thinking of pursuing an MLS. Having seen my student loan debt load, though, she is uncomfortable with the idea of funding it herself. My previous employer had a librarian trainee program in which they would partially subsidize tuition and pay a salary to MLS students who work in their libraries and agree to continue to work in their libraries for a few years after completing an MLS. Do you know of other libraries or library systems (public, academic, or otherwise) that offer similar programs? How do those of you who participate in these programs feel about them?
TIA”

June 17, 2004 by Uncategorized 3

You may also like...

3 Responses

  1. Anonymous Patron says:
    June 17, 2004 at 12:55 am

    MLS degrees ain’t cheap …..
    Some schools offer tuition-free education on a “merit” basis (mine does), but that doesn’t necessarily take care of everything. I still have to pay living expenses, buy books, etc. I don’t know about schools that offer tuition-free education if you agree to work in their libraries. I’m sure some do, but it wouldn’t seem to me to be a significant number. There’s not much getting around the fact that an MLS is an expensive proposition, with or without tuition-free offers from schools, with very few exceptions, and the debt thing is a serious consideration when you’re thinking of applying or going.

    Reply
  2. tangognat says:
    June 17, 2004 at 1:27 am

    depends on the school
    I got an assistantship when I went to UIUC that waived in-state tuition and provided a salary that was enough (barely) for a starving student to live on. I worked 20 hrs a week and attended school full time. I had no student loans 🙂

    Reply
  3. AaronK says:
    June 22, 2004 at 5:06 am

    Public library SLIS assistance
    I’m aware of two public library programs locally that help subsidize MLS work.

    One of them involves reimbursement of tuition payments after satisfactory completion of a given course. I believe this entails an after-degree commitment, though I’m not certain how this is spelled out.

    My own library offers continuing education hours, which allows an employee ongoing full-time wage and benefits and up to eight hours per course per week release time for study. My two current courses cause my schedule to be three full-time days at work and two full-time days at school. The post-MLS commitment is two years. I am very grateful for this arrangement, for obvious reasons.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LISNews Archives