To those of you who have applied to bschool recently: How does the financial aid/scholarship process work? Specifically, I’m wondering what the schools count as assets, how far back the schools look (e.g. how far back do they look at your bank statements), and what types of threshold levels determine financial aid (e.g. if you have
It is my understanding that student loans have become quite scarce ever since the ARS auctions started failing. I’m interested to hear some responses from current students.
I’m less interested in loans and more interested in grants. Many schools give grants and some of the top schools are “need-blind”, although they don’t advertise this fact. Essentially, the poorer I look the better my chances of getting money I’ll never have to pay back. So I need to understand what assets they look at and how far back.
My FAFSA is done for a full time MBA beginning in Aug. I don’t know the tricks of the trade to get more money, I have excellent credit and got approved for the max in Stafford Loans ($20,500) plus $17k of GradPlus loans. FAFSA requests current bank/brokerage balances (and they do randomly check). Also your 08 tax return will be provided to schools when you fill out FAFSA. Grants vary among schools, but it is my understanding that ‘need based’ grants/scholarships are more the exception than the rule. I got this info out of “How to get into the top MBA Program” by Richard Montauk. Most admission counselors claimed that grants/scholarships are gifted based on grades, GMAT, experience, etc rather than income.
For PT: 1. Are companies cutting back paying tuition big time these days? I would assume so, but reality might be different. 2. If you do not get company funding…has anyone had a hard time getting a private loan for PT?
ditchdigger - thanks for the info.
Yeah, it seems like it’s pretty easy to get students loans but grants and scholarships are much more limited.
In business schools there are relatively few grants, presumably because these degrees have tended to lead to higher-than-average paying jobs that can support large debt loads. That assumption is not so good in these times, and the distrust of secuiritization is making student loans harder to make at reasonable prices. Best chances for grants are to be poor and apply to an ivy league school and have a stellar background/record. They do tend to have need-blind ADMISSIONS but that’s not the same as need-blind AID. Another option if you are a woman or in a minority group of some sort is to look for private foundations that want to support your group by providing scholarships. These scholarships seldom cover the full cost, but every little bit helps.
No one has any expeirience on getting $ for bschool?
No one has any experience in getting $ for bschool?
if ur looking at top-10 ranked mba programs then fuggedaboutit (in terms of getting grants/fellowships/scholarships) and look below top 15.
I’m graduating from a top 20 MBA this year and have friends at a few other schools in the top 20, and have never even heard of need-based grants. As someone above pointed out, merit-based scholarships are available, but I doubt any legit program offers need-based grants simply because it is expected that you will transition to a high-paying job upon graduating and will have no trouble paying back your b-school loans.