scholarships/financial aid

Question

just wondering if it would be useful to have a thread focused on scholarships and financial aid. perhaps some tips/tricks that some people are aware of?

cpgmba · Answer

Great idea! It's scary that I have to start thinking about that now!

young_gun · Answer

i'll start off with a question...what to do about my savings account? Won't having a decent amount of cash in a savings account work against me when being considered for aid/scholarships? If so, what am I to do w/ it?

terp26 · Answer

you can give it to me

cpgmba · Answer

I'm new to this, but at Ross' Super Saturday this conversation came up. Apparently, there are quite a few out there that move their savings around by "gifting" it to family members. This shows that you have less to contribute via personal funds which usually means you'll receive more financial aid. However, this is very unethical and I believe it's technically ILLEGAL.

On this topic, does anyone know of good resources (books, websites, etc.) for graduate financial aid and scholarships?

solaris1 · Answer

Very few schools (HBS only perhaps?) will offer scholarships based on financial need. Assuming you're a US Citizen, your financial aid application, which will take your savings into consideration to determine financial need, will mostly be used to determine eligibility for subsidized Stafford loans.

For a few hundred dollars in interest payments, do you really want to engage in actions of questionable ethical standing? Your conscience not mine.

For a few hundred dollars in interest payments, do you really want to engage in actions of questionable ethical standing? Your conscience not mine.

There was a great Financial Aid thread there in the B-School Life forum, not sure if it's still around? This question probably gets asked every year anyway so search through older posts.

nink · Answer

Listen to solaris....he is scholarship wait list master... He must have researched this issue thoroughly

sam77sam7 · Answer

I believe financial aid is based of your tax returns, not your savings account. So I am not sure if moving money around will make a difference..

Please correct me if I am wrong.

cpgmba · Answer

For financial aid, do they look at your current state or expected state? Right now, my wife and I are both working so our income is substantial. However, once we move and go back to school she won't have a job and if she finds one it will be much lower paying.

solaris1 · Answer

I believe it's your current state. Once you leave your job and your wife switches to a lower paying one too, you can appeal your financial aid award and it would be adjusted to reflected your "expected" state.

An yea whatever ninkorny.

riverripper · Answer

Max out your Roth IRA for this year and next year, if you are married both of you should do this. You can take money out of there whenever you want without penalty as long as you only touch they principle. Buy things you are gonna need/want for school, so get that new suit and shoes, get some shirts and dress pants, ties, new backpack, and any toys you may want (be reasonable do you really need a new 65" TV you wont watch or car you wont drive?). Also usually you put your estimates of what you will have as of September...so subtract out estimated moving expenses, first/last/security deposits for your apartment, laptop, and stuff like that.

Ntang · Answer

One of the few financial advantages to working at a non-profit is that I make very little money (especially compared to many of my incoming B-schooler peers), which makes me suspect that I'll get offered better scholarship deals. Much like Sarah Palin, I ain't exactly flat busted... but just making that deposit come April is gonna be tough.

Like the poster above, my understanding is that few schools straight up offer you free money - for U.S. citizens, we're mostly just talking about subsidized versus non-sub loans, right? And when applying for loans, am I basically claiming all kinds of living expenses for the coming year so I can borrow more money to live on? So is my financial disadvantage going into this whole process even a factor?

solaris1 · Answer

Ntang, it really depends on your situation. I don't know how much money you make, but you might get preferential treatment for institutional loan programs funded by the business schools themselves, which are a WAY better deal than the Federal Stafford and PLUS programs. These are typically awarded based on financial need. For instance, Tuck has a 5% loan program based on financial need.

Spreading around your savings account or socking away extra money in IRAs 401(k)s might not make a difference. At schools like Columbia, your retirement savings ARE considered to be available for financing your MBA. The fact that you're from a non-profit background might make you eligible for some sort of fellowship funding restricted to applicants from atypical backgrounds such as yourself.

Hence, your "financial disadvantage" would most likely result is some kind of financial advantage when it came to funding your MBA education.

fluidian · Answer

I'm not sure about you guys, but my current salary is about $120K, and Chicago offered me a fellowship at 25K/year (renewable). The only point is, I make more than the bulk of the applying students, and at the same time am getting a larger fellowship than most - at a lot of schools it's not so related to how much you need the cash, but more on how much the school wants you to attend. Is 25K/year enough to make you choose Chicago over Wharton - that's the question I was faced with...

bb · Answer

I think you are referring to this one started by Kryzak. 103-p409407?t=57289 It is the right time to start the 2008-2009 one though

cpgmba · Answer

I've been reading through all of the archives and found some really great info on financial aid. The one question I still have is regarding when to apply for FASFA. Do I need to wait until I get my tax returns next year or can I apply now? (On FASFA's website it says you just need your 2007 returns but I'm not sure if it's been updated)

kryzak · Answer

thanks bb, that was the link I was going to paste.

Wow that was was a while ago.

scholarships/financial aid

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