Grants

• By enrolling in a master's degree program, you can apply for a variety of grants to help finance your education. Receiving unemployment does not affect your eligibility to apply for or receive a grant, although if the grant is need-based you must report unemployment benefits as income. However, the federal government offers few grants to master's students -- Pell Grants, the biggest federal student grant program, are only available to people who do not have a bachelor's degree. A few departments in the federal government, especially the Defense Department, offer a small number of grants to graduate students.
  
  

Unemployment Benefits

• States oversee unemployment insurance funds. While the rules of unemployment benefits vary little between states, each state administers its fund and might be more or less open to broad interpretations of guidelines. Workers whose employers have paid into the fund can make insurance claims to receive benefits if they meet eligibility requirements.
  
  

Availability

• All states require people receiving unemployment benefits to be actively looking for and available for work. Some unemployment agencies hold the view that full-time students are, by definition, not available for work, while others have no stated policy but assess each case individually. For example, Minnesota courts have denied unemployment benefits to students repeatedly, although the state has no official policy. Due to the subjectivity of the "available and looking for work" requirement, talk to a case worker at your state's unemployment agency before enrolling in a master's degree program to see how the agency views continuing education in relation to unemployment.
  
  

Job Training

• Following the 2008 recession, President Barack Obama changed a Department of Education requirement so that individuals can receive both unemployment benefits and Pell Grants. The change was part of a push to encourage job-seekers to acquire more skills to make them more competitive in the market. While master's programs were not explicitly included in the change, you can continue to receive benefits if your state's unemployment agency sees further education as training that makes you more competitive in your field.