Be aware that some schools either don't take students who have an MA in hand or take very few of them. program, but you will be well served by any place that prepares you well, gives you an opportunity to teach, lets you develop your writing and research interests, and provides you chances to begin to conference and perhaps publish. will matter, but that of your MA won't as much. Anyway, don't focus so much on the rankings, especially for the MA. Syracuse and Villanova offer funded MAs as well. It sounds like she would be perfect for your work. U of Utah has some funding for the MA level and Kathryn Stockton is there. Schools like U of Oregon don't fund you for the first year, but you can get funding through teaching for the second year. This will be a big advantage for you when/if you decide to go on for a Ph.D. Others will be able to speak to this more, but check out schools who offer full funding for the MA (or at least mostly full) where you also get to teach.
candidates are fully funded, usually very generously. The Ivys and top 20 schools who have MA programs generally do not fund their MA students or only very partially fund them.
