Poll Internationals: How are you paying for it

1. Schools with no-cosigner loans covering tuition+expenses (to the best of my knowledge): HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Chicago, MIT, Kellogg, Tuck, NYU, Ross, Duke, Darden

2. Schools with no-cosigner loans covering tuition only: Yale, Cornell

3. Schools not offering no-cosigner loans: Columbia, Haas, UCLA

I never considered the schools in Group 3 because they didn't have any loan for internationals. The schools in Group 2 will be a tough call for many internationals as not everyone can show 40k in cash for 2-year living expenses. I personally never applied to Tuck, NYU and Darden because at the time of applying they had not worked their no-cosigner loan terms out and basically didn't have international loans in place. Striking out HBS and Stanford in addition because I'm too old for them really made my choice of schools easier and that's why I selected among only W/Chi/M/K/Mich/Duke.
I understand that Haas and UCLA might have problems considering their public status and reliance on the California budget. What really baffles me is Columbia's inability/unwillingness to offer a loan. I don't buy that "we try hard but so far no success" stance that their office puts on. I can't believe that one of the top finance schools, which churns out well-paid grads in banking, has strong relationships with all major banks and has tons of prominent alumni in finance, cannot pull some strings to secure a loan when almost all other top schools have put something in place.

I'll go with my personal savings...

It will be good to build a list of schools with tution/scholarship/Loan scale....
Has any one started such research?

GoBruins, thanks so much for starting this thread, great idea!

sniperssk, not sure about the rest but the loan through Ross covers tuition only, no incidental expenses. Perhaps it would also make sense to distinguish between schools that allow their loans to be used towards the I-20 (like Ross) and those that don't (like Cornell), the latter category making it exponentially more difficult to secure the funds required unless the applicant or their family has substantial savings.

I started a thread in another forum, which is relevant to this topic:

financing-your-mba-international-students-95916.html

Ariel, the Ross no-cosigner loan covers cost of attendance, which includes tuition and living expenses for an 8-month period. Check here - https://www.bus.umich.edu/pdf/P2_RSBUMCU.pdf

Loan amount: Up to the Cost of Attendance, less other aid received, for the 2010-2011 Fall-Winter terms. Loan amounts are subject to adjustment, based on actual tuition charges per term. Students in a dual degree program are eligible for the RSB-UMCU loan during the terms of Ross registration only.

I find it surprising that Cornell does not allow their loan to be used for I-20. That's makes it really tough for internationals. It seems that in the recent years only about 10 of the top 15 schools are affordable. I have very little personal savings to draw on so most of my costs will be covered by no-cosigner loans.

sniperssk, unfortunately I can't open the pdf file you have pasted. Not having seen the document, I'm not sure whether they have provided a definition for cost of attendance or not. As an admitted international student, I have been communicating extensively with the admissions office on this very matter and I can tell you that you're on your own for living expenses (estimated at just over 8k per academic year) and even then Ross is one of the most international student friendly schools out there.

Just to clarify.

Ross' out of state tuition = 50K
Cost of Attendance (8 months) = 70K
Expense for 12 months in the US plus tuition = 78K

So the 8K they estimate that you need to provide up front is money for the summer when you are out of school. I stubbled on it yesterday when I was looking to finish my student loans.

Thanks for the clarification, GoBruins. I had no idea they factored summer expenses into this.

GoBruin is right. Living expenses for 12 months are 28k and you are expected to cover at least 8k. For the other 20k you can take out a no-cosigner loan. The standard definition of Cost of attendance is all costs associated with attending the school, not only tuition.

well, well. arent you quite the baller? ha ha. teasing. but seriously, how did you make that decision? do you have that much money to spare, did you calculate that the opportunity cost of depleting your savings was less than borrowing tuition and investing it or did you figure out something else? just curious.

I still have to weight the pros and cons, but all in all the 180-200K$ budget I estimate for my two years or 90-100K$ each year (going with wife and child, that's why it's a bit high) won't hurt too much my return on capital. At least I've secured my I-20 with my savings only.
However my bank called me two weeks ago to offer a 2.9%/Y student loan... With this rate it is probable that I will finance at least half of the total amount I forecast using the loan. But to tell you the truth I'm personally not a maniac of cash optimization, even if I do work in Corporate finance! I am lucky enough to consider that a few % gain/loss on my return won't make a big difference.

Edit: I must add also that I've received a scholarship (small one tough), so it will lessen the burden