Hi everyone,

I have adequate finances to cover the cost of attendance for my first year in school, but certainly do not have enough moolah for my second. The program that I have admitted to and would like to attend does not have a no US co-signer loan program. I am wondering, what happens when students are unable to pay for their second year in the program, due to a change in their financial situation (e.g. sudden death of co-signer, bankruptcy of family business) ? Would the school bar the student from registering for second-year classes? Or would the school be empathetic enough to work with the student to explore ways to help him/her complete the program, assuming that the student is making good progress ? Has anyone come across such a situation before? And if so, how did the school in question react to that particular situation?

Most b-schools do not require International Students to establish adequate funding for both years for issuing the I20. Neither is the International Student required to renew his/her visa at the end of the first year. I reckon that there could be a small percentage of Int'l Students who took the riskier approach of matriculating in a program even though s/he already knew that they would not be able to pay for his / her living expenses and tuition fees in the second year. There could also be a case of the student running into genuine financial difficulties at the end of the first year and hence, does not have the ability to continue with tuition fee payments.

I am putting this up here to get some views on this issue. On one hand, I thought I should throw caution to the wind by taking the riskier approach of matriculating in the school I was admitted to and hope that I would be able to find a way to pay my bills before the start of the second year; on the other, I felt that I was playing with fire and that I could end up with no savings and no degree, if I were disallowed to continue in the program without first paying for my fees. Should I hence proceed to matriculate with the school or not?

Grateful for all advice that I can get from fellow GMAT clubbers. Thanks!

This scenario of funding secured for 1st year, but unsecured funding in 2nd year is very real among international students. Particularly students from developing countries who don't have US cosigner for loan. I posed the same Q to international students enrolled at BSchools and alumni, the gist of replies is that BSchools don't empathise with you, they make sympathetic noises, but won't come up with funding such as scholarship or hardship $. BSchools warn you in their small print that you need to secure funding and encourage you to do this at home. The rationale is that the hardship is self induced due to imprudent planning and predictable prior to your MBA. For BSchools, it is money talks. People drop out of MBAs when they can't pay year 2 tuition for this reason. Do not rely on BSchool administration to help you out of the pickle.

If your target BSchool doesn't have loan for internationals without US cosigner and you don't have sufficient funds, this BSchools is simply the wrong place for you due to its lack of commitment. Have you explained your situation to FinAid and ask them to come up with some $ to make funding work?

Good luck.

I fully second that Jock4MBA wrote and congratulate on your smart decision.

There is no need to endanger your future just of two positions in the FT rating. Go to a more secure school and you'll achieve better results as you won't be thinking about where to get money every single day.

At the end of the day, there are only several really cherry-pick companies such as Google that interview students from megasuperultraproelite schools only. And so be it.