INSEAD & Financing / Debt!

Question

I got accepted for the Jan '11 intake and currently the tuition costs are looming large on my mind. I'd like to know how other people are approaching it, and whether this has any weight on your acceptance of the offer.

Basically I can pay for living expenses and keep an 'oh-god-economy-sux' buffer in the bank, but that still leaves me having to finance nearly the entire 52,000 euro tuition payment with a loan (if I get it, but that's another story.)

With a good amount of luck I could swing a scholarship, summer internship, and sign-on bonus to cut this down to half almost immediately on graduation. On the other hand, a worst case scenario has me with a 1,000 monthly bill for the next five years. (If you can't tell by now I'm not a huge fan of debt, leveraged or not!)

What are other people's approaches here? According to adcom stats I won't be the only one self-financing. Am I the only one without a rich, benevolent family member?

sm332 · Answer

No you arent - I havent even finalized my loan yet. But while 52K euros arent chump change, over a 30 yr working career it most certainly is chump change. I have never had debt of my own in the past but I am surprisingly relaxed about this future debt.

monkeypunch · Answer

Hmm, was the other comment self-deleted or is this a pro-MBA conspiracy?

EuroMBA84 · Answer

Prodigy Finance, a UK based company founded by INSEAD grads, offers loans to students admitted to INSEAD regardless of nationality. The avg loan they provide is 30000 euros.

google: "prodigy finance" (sorry i need to have 5 posts on gmatclub before i can post a link to their website)

Has anyone had any experience with Prodigy? Are the loans guaranteed ?

bhatiagp · Answer

I wrote to prodigy the day I got my admit and I still havent heard from them despite multiple followups. The only response I get is that we will look into your application later, were busy currently. Its almost 45 days now..

Has any INSEAD Jan 2011 admit heard from them as yet.
Did any of you June admits also encounter the same situation.

Has any INSEAD Jan 2011 admit heard from them as yet. 
Did any of you June admits also encounter the same situation.

monkeypunch · Answer

I submitted my Prodigy app last week and got an automated response:

Thank you for your application with us. Please note that we are currently processing July 11 students and we will be processing your class’s applications by the end of July.

I think I'll give HSBC and NatWest a try soon. I heard not-so-good things about HSBC but met an admit last night who said her approval from them was a piece of cake (she banks with them, as do I.) I've heard better things about NatWest, but we'll see!

bhatiagp · Answer

Just heard from Prodigy Theyve asked to wait till the 26th.

Goldfinger · Answer

Hi everyone, thanks for your messages below.
I am admitted for the INSEAD MBA J12 Class starting in Singapore.

I am currently working in Australia under a 457 visa (sponsorship). I am not a Permanent Resident of Australia. My chances of becoming a Resident have been reduced due to last changes on immigration Policies (despite of my skills, work, etc); however, is still not impossible that I get the residency after September, but it will imply a big movement in terms of time and money investment, so I would like to be clear about how useful it would be in terms of getting a loan for the MBA.
My home country is in South America, and there are no loans to MBA students over there.

So I would like to explore (in advance, as you might see) the possibilities here, in Australia. My questions at this stage are the following, if anyone can help me:

1- Does anyone know about MBA loans for 457 visa holders? I can prove a quite good record of income in Australia, working for a quite important company, etc

2- How does it work for Permanent Residents (or citizens of Australia)? Do they get MBA loans "easily", for overseas Schools as the INSEAD? What banks should I contact? (I saw that Natwest could be an option) What interest rates?

If anyone would like to meet for lunch or coffee to discuss further, I would be very grateful as well. I currently work in North Sydney. Not sure if I can post my email here?

Many thanks in advance and wish the best for those admitted for the J11 intake as I saw below.

JZHANG2008 · Answer

Hey guys. Any idea what sorts of questions Prodigy asks your reference person? Since only one reference person can be a family member, I want to make sure that I am comfortable with the kind of information Prodigy seeks to verify before giving a name of a reference person.

Thanks!

JZ

Thanks!

JZ

addictive · Answer

anyone here taken a study loan on top of home loan? i'm from india and have a home loan running with Euro 500 monthly instalment (fixed for 3yrs), any idea if that makes the chance of edu loan very low?

somewhat like monkeypunch - I can pay for living expenses, home loan and keep an 'oh-god-economy-sux' buffer in the bank and may be manage up to Euro 10K for tuitions, but thats max

coolshling · Answer

hey guys
Does any of you apply for any Insead scholarships as one of MBA financing option?

johnstan · Answer

Just following up on this thread - I applied to Prodigy for a loan some time back (in June - but they didn't process the 11'D apps until mid-July) and had my loan accepted. In terms of the questions they ask personal referees, I don't think they actually contacted anyone! They were really easy to deal with, and got the loan sorted very quickly once the decision had been made (around July 26th).

Goldfinger · Answer

Hi guys, many thanks for the tips, just asking again, any Australian here that did/will do the MBA INSEAD? CHeers.

ligett · Answer

Hey johnstan

Thanks for the info. Could you also tell please how big (approx) the amount was and what interest they're going to charge?
(That may be a too personal question for you, I'm sorry if it is so)

Thanks in advance

Andrey

PTK · Answer

Hi Charlie, 
I am glad to have someone here from Prodigy Finance. Welcome! 
I would like to know the process of lending, because its timing may seriosly impact a student's decisions. I expect that there might be some problems.

For example: INSEAD's R1 deadline for class matriculating in Sept-2015 is September 24th, 2014. The decision date is November 28th. 
The AdComs asks applicants to comit  a deposit amount equal to 7,000 EUR   (huge chunk of cash if compared to US MBA) to reserve a sit about  4 weeks  after offer of admission was issued, so it is December 26th (4 weeks after decision notification which is November 28th).

There is a risk that after being accepted and reservation amount is paid, an applicant would not be able to get financing from ProdigyFinance.  So ultimately, he/she may comit 7,000 EUR and at the end find out that financing is not available, which means he/she looses   7,250 EUR (application fee and deposit).

What an ordinary accepted applicant should do? 
1) Contact the ProdigyFinance team after decision date, which is November 28th and within 4 weeks get his/her request approved and a guarantee to have an available funding? Well, and then decide whether to pay or not the commitment deposit. 
2) Contact the ProdigyFinance team before/after applying, and if accepted to INSEAD, by that time have a ProdigyFinance decision (total loan amount and rate%) and then to decide if he/she has sufficient funding to pursue the degree and commit 7,000 EUR deposit.

I wwould like to see a streamlined process and would NOT like to loose money due to different obstacles and stringent requirements of the school.

igormkd · Answer

Hi there,

I am an INSEAD MBA 16J starting in Singapore in a couple of months. I got a loan from Prodigy Finance and as some other users sated in former posts, the entire communication was really efficient. One tip that I would give to prospective loan seekers is to make sure that everything you state in your application is real and able to be backed-up with documents. I could collect all papers needed in a week or so. IMO, the real advantage of Prodigy Finance is that you can get a decent amount of money without a co-signer.

Good luck with cracking the financial challenge!

INSEAD & Financing / Debt!

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