Efrain responds:
Hi Sam,
I don't think many students finish their MPA without going into some debt. Some students get an assistanships for their first year but still have to ask for financial aid for their second year. Assistanships are really competitive and because of the economic crisis there are more people looking and fewer opportunities.
But there are still great opportunities out there. The Evans School has 6 to 8 people with research assistantships positions working on agriculture in Africa for a professor that works for the Gates Foundation. Some of the professors and research centers at the Evans School also have research assistantships.
You can also look for other opportunities inside the UW. The Evans School does not have a lot of teaching assistantship (TA) opportunities because we not have an undergraduate program, but UW has many opportunities to be a TA in other departments.
I hope this helps!
Efrain Gutierrez is a second year Master of Public Administration (MPA) student at the Evans School with interests in global governance, international development, Latino communities in the U.S., and gender policy. Efrain received his MPA from the Evans School in June, 2010. More about Efrain