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ShanMan
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Financing Your MBA 18 Jun 2014, 20:36
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The Perkins loan is really ideal if you are able to qualify for it. Definitely look into that!
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devashishgmat
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Financing Your MBA 09 Dec 2014, 20:13
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hey guys,

i was planning to start my applications for the class of 2018 (US b schools only) next year and was doing research on the financing options. i have the following questions:

1. could someone provide an estimate of any minimum amount that the students are asked to contribute by the lenders? for e.g. i was reading that wharton's loan programme only covers 80% of the total budget. would this mean that the remaining 20% would have to be contributed by the student.

2. another question which i wanted to ask is about the extent to which living expenses can be covered by the loans, if at all they are covered. what amount can be expected to be approved by the lenders under the head living expenses? is there a benchmark which lenders follow or do lenders only approve the total loan amount and the student has the discretion to allocate the funds between tuition and living expenses?

lately, i have been doing a lot of research on the above topics but have not been able to come across a definitive answer to my queries. i am new to this area so request your consideration if the questions are silly.

p.s. i am an international applicant
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Financing Your MBA 09 Dec 2014, 22:42
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devashishgmat
hey guys,

i was planning to start my applications for the class of 2018 (US b schools only) next year and was doing research on the financing options. i have the following questions:

1. could someone provide an estimate of any minimum amount that the students are asked to contribute by the lenders? for e.g. i was reading that wharton's loan programme only covers 80% of the total budget. would this mean that the remaining 20% would have to be contributed by the student.

2. another question which i wanted to ask is about the extent to which living expenses can be covered by the loans, if at all they are covered. what amount can be expected to be approved by the lenders under the head living expenses? is there a benchmark which lenders follow or do lenders only approve the total loan amount and the student has the discretion to allocate the funds between tuition and living expenses?

lately, i have been doing a lot of research on the above topics but have not been able to come across a definitive answer to my queries. i am new to this area so request your consideration if the questions are silly.

p.s. i am an international applicant
Show more

I am not an international student, but this is my understanding of the process.

As an international student, you will have to take it on a school-by-school basis. Unfortunately, you are not eligible for the government loans that many US students will take. This means that you will have to go with private loans from banks like a Wells Fargo. The additional complexity is the cosigner - in general, international students who take out private loans needs to have a US citizen with good creditworthiness sign with them. There are some no-cosigner loans available as well, but these are harder to come by. Check out Prodigy Finance for an example of this. n addition, many international students rely on family funds, personal savings, government or company sponsorships, and/or loans secured in their home countries.

This part I am less certain is applicable to you, but for American students, we can borrow public and private loans at a student rate up to the published school budget. Here's Columbia's for instance:

Tuition: $63,148
Mandatory fees: $3,531
Health services and insurance: $3,392
Books and supplies: $900
Room and board: $20,700
Personal expenses: $4,797
Total first-year budget: $96,468

What basically happens is that Columbia first subtracts out any scholarships, grants or sponsorships that you receive. The remainder is your responsibility. Say those things cover $56,468. You then have $40,000 outstanding. You can either pay for this out of pocket, or take out loans at the student rate up to this amount.

Hope this helps.
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Financing Your MBA 12 Dec 2014, 16:44
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Hey guys,
I was recently admitted to business school. I was saving up for it but unfortunately all of my savings got deprciated by 70% due to the inflation in Russia, so I am not able to pay even for 1 year. That's a real dissapointment.
I still don't know about the scholarship. I deffered my admission so they will tell me about the scholarship by the time of releasing their decisions to the rest of the applicants. However, I don't count that. If I get any then it's okay. If not then not.
The most important part is that this university provides assistantships with tuition waivers to the students. I want to ask the department about that.

So my question to you guys is: would it be okay to contact the school and tell them about this unfortunate situation of mine and to ask if they can provide me with an assistantship?
I am concerned that this question would seem tactless.

Thanks!
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Financing Your MBA 12 Dec 2014, 16:47
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bakavoice
Hey guys,
I was recently admitted to business school. I was saving up for it but unfortunately all of my savings got deprciated by 70% due to the inflation in Russia, so I am not able to pay even for 1 year. That's a real dissapointment.
I still don't know about the scholarship. I deffered my admission so they will tell me about the scholarship by the time of releasing their decisions to the rest of the applicants. However, I don't count that. If I get any then it's okay. If not then not.
The most important part is that this university provides assistantships with tuition waivers to the students. I want to ask the department about that.

So my question to you guys is: would it be okay to contact the school and tell them about this unfortunate situation of mine and to ask if they can provide me with an assistantship?
I am concerned that this question would seem tactless.

Thanks!
Show more

100% yes! The worse they can do is say no.
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Financing Your MBA 13 Dec 2014, 10:17
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bakavoice
Hey guys,
I was recently admitted to business school. I was saving up for it but unfortunately all of my savings got deprciated by 70% due to the inflation in Russia, so I am not able to pay even for 1 year. That's a real dissapointment.
I still don't know about the scholarship. I deffered my admission so they will tell me about the scholarship by the time of releasing their decisions to the rest of the applicants. However, I don't count that. If I get any then it's okay. If not then not.
The most important part is that this university provides assistantships with tuition waivers to the students. I want to ask the department about that.

So my question to you guys is: would it be okay to contact the school and tell them about this unfortunate situation of mine and to ask if they can provide me with an assistantship?
I am concerned that this question would seem tactless.

Thanks!

100% yes! The worse they can do is say no.
Show more

Well, it makes sense. What's the worst that can happen? Not more than them saying "no".
Thank you! :)
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Financing Your MBA 14 Dec 2014, 01:13
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QiuYidio
devashishgmat
hey guys,

i was planning to start my applications for the class of 2018 (US b schools only) next year and was doing research on the financing options. i have the following questions:

1. could someone provide an estimate of any minimum amount that the students are asked to contribute by the lenders? for e.g. i was reading that wharton's loan programme only covers 80% of the total budget. would this mean that the remaining 20% would have to be contributed by the student.

2. another question which i wanted to ask is about the extent to which living expenses can be covered by the loans, if at all they are covered. what amount can be expected to be approved by the lenders under the head living expenses? is there a benchmark which lenders follow or do lenders only approve the total loan amount and the student has the discretion to allocate the funds between tuition and living expenses?

lately, i have been doing a lot of research on the above topics but have not been able to come across a definitive answer to my queries. i am new to this area so request your consideration if the questions are silly.

p.s. i am an international applicant

I am not an international student, but this is my understanding of the process.

As an international student, you will have to take it on a school-by-school basis. Unfortunately, you are not eligible for the government loans that many US students will take. This means that you will have to go with private loans from banks like a Wells Fargo. The additional complexity is the cosigner - in general, international students who take out private loans needs to have a US citizen with good creditworthiness sign with them. There are some no-cosigner loans available as well, but these are harder to come by. Check out Prodigy Finance for an example of this. n addition, many international students rely on family funds, personal savings, government or company sponsorships, and/or loans secured in their home countries.

This part I am less certain is applicable to you, but for American students, we can borrow public and private loans at a student rate up to the published school budget. Here's Columbia's for instance:

Tuition: $63,148
Mandatory fees: $3,531
Health services and insurance: $3,392
Books and supplies: $900
Room and board: $20,700
Personal expenses: $4,797
Total first-year budget: $96,468

What basically happens is that Columbia first subtracts out any scholarships, grants or sponsorships that you receive. The remainder is your responsibility. Say those things cover $56,468. You then have $40,000 outstanding. You can either pay for this out of pocket, or take out loans at the student rate up to this amount.

Hope this helps.
Show more

thanks. this was helpful.
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Financing Your MBA 02 Jan 2015, 09:43
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Has anyone ever heard of accepting admission offers last minute in an effort to have scholarship money thrown at you?? My friend just had it work for him with law school. I wasn't sure if anyone had ever heard of it for B-school.

Thanks!
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burningcole
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Financing Your MBA 20 Jan 2015, 18:20
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CharlieHorse
Has anyone ever heard of accepting admission offers last minute in an effort to have scholarship money thrown at you?? My friend just had it work for him with law school. I wasn't sure if anyone had ever heard of it for B-school.

Thanks!
Show more

No. Some schools will hand out more scholarships when students with scholarships decline their offers. But, the next batch of scholarship offers are probably independent of whether or not they have accepted offers. In a down year that might be the case from all I've heard applications appear to be up at most schools and there are plenty of applicants on the wait-list who would gladly take your spot. That being said it's like comparing european options to american options... there is some time-value... it doesn't cost you anything to wait until the last minute.
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Financing Your MBA 20 Mar 2015, 08:17
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Hi,

I received financial aid offer and wanted to know if you could take out a loan for the scholarship that had been awarded.

e.g. cost of attendance is 60k, there's a 20k scholarship so that leaves me with 40k of loans. Can I still get the 20k scholarship as a loan privately?
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Financing Your MBA 20 Mar 2015, 08:30
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No. For federal or private loans, the school still has to certify. They won't certify more than the COA less scholarships.
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Financing Your MBA 20 Mar 2015, 08:34
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brandon432
No. For federal or private loans, the school still has to certify. They won't certify more than the COA less scholarships.
Show more

With that in mind, how can I get the school to increase my cost of attendance? I don't have a child but would have significant travel and family costs.
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Financing Your MBA 20 Mar 2015, 09:35
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The short answer is that you likely can't. Schools typically have a petition/appeals process, but I don't have any firsthand knowledge.

Why do you think the COA will be insufficient?
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Financing Your MBA 20 Mar 2015, 09:37
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brandon432
The short answer is that you likely can't. Schools typically have a petition/appeals process, but I don't have any firsthand knowledge.

Why do you think the COA will be insufficient?
Show more

For networking and trips abroad with the school. Mainly just commuting to NYC for networking events every month which isn't factored into the COA and will likely rack up a decent amount for me.
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Financing Your MBA 20 Mar 2015, 09:51
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I doubt schools will increase the COA for those reasons, because they're discretionary.

Have you actually put together a real budget? I'm sure you can "find" money in other lines. For Booth anyways, some of the numbers are pretty generous.

$2,100 for books - I probably spent less than $300/year, and most of that was the $25/class coursepack fees.
$1,500 rent - I am married with a kid. We have a very nice, huge 2BD with garage parking and pay less than $2,400 for rent/elect/gas/cable/internet. So "my share" is less than $1,200.
$1,800 for computer - Don't buy a new one if you don't actually need one.
$600/mo for food - Grocery shop. We cook 3-4 nights a week, eat out every weekend, and spend <$400/ea.

That's almost $10k savings right there. If you go through that exercise for every line, I'm sure you can find a few grand for travel. Don't spend the max on your fixed costs just because COA breakdown gives a budget for $1,500 in rent.

Also, don't forget you'll have a salary over the summer (could be $22-27k) which doesn't count against the COA. Coupled with whatever savings you're coming in with, that should be more than enough to get you through.
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Financing Your MBA 08 Apr 2015, 14:50
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brandon432
I doubt schools will increase the COA for those reasons, because they're discretionary.

Have you actually put together a real budget? I'm sure you can "find" money in other lines. For Booth anyways, some of the numbers are pretty generous.

$2,100 for books - I probably spent less than $300/year, and most of that was the $25/class coursepack fees.
$1,500 rent - I am married with a kid. We have a very nice, huge 2BD with garage parking and pay less than $2,400 for rent/elect/gas/cable/internet. So "my share" is less than $1,200.
$1,800 for computer - Don't buy a new one if you don't actually need one.
$600/mo for food - Grocery shop. We cook 3-4 nights a week, eat out every weekend, and spend <$400/ea.

That's almost $10k savings right there. If you go through that exercise for every line, I'm sure you can find a few grand for travel. Don't spend the max on your fixed costs just because COA breakdown gives a budget for $1,500 in rent.

Also, don't forget you'll have a salary over the summer (could be $22-27k) which doesn't count against the COA. Coupled with whatever savings you're coming in with, that should be more than enough to get you through.
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Do they give you that amount? after they pay off all tuition?
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Financing Your MBA 08 Apr 2015, 17:22
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Basically, yes. Here's a very simple example:

1. You accept loans for the entire COA. Let's call it $99,000.
2. One third ($33,000) of that is disbursed directly to the school in September for the first quarter.
3. Your tuition and fees for the first quarter are $19,500.
4. The school credits your account and then refunds the remainder ($13,500) to you .
5. You have to budget that to last through the quarter.

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Financing Your MBA 08 Apr 2015, 23:25
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Hey guys,

As an international student, I really want some clarity on what my living expenses (excluding rent) maybe per month. Just wanted some light on how an average MBA student spends. Could anyone help me in this? If anyone can talk about Atlanta in particular, it'll be even better!

Thanks!
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Financing Your MBA 09 Apr 2015, 19:28
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Can't help with Atlanta. Maybe this post will help - how-much-do-you-really-spend-in-business-school-168796.html#p1345126

Your best data source is probably current students. Try to connect via email or ask at admit weekend.
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Financing Your MBA 05 May 2015, 04:05
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Hi there,

Finding ways to finance your MBA can be challenging depending on the personal situation (availability of other sources of finance, amount of personal savings, current standing of the loan seeker etc.). I come from Eastern Europe where very limited number of sources of finance were available for financing my INSEAD MBA. The only alternative to local banks, out of which many could only offer 10.000 EUR or so, was Prodigy Finance. I got the amount I requested; the entire procedure was very efficient and the terms and conditions were fair. Please note that this solely relates to my case: in some countries, you may encounter more alternatives to Prodigy Finance. A great relief was the fact that I got to loan without a co-signer.
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