Financing your MBA - International Students

These are the details of Tucks 2011 - 2012 loan program for internationals. Fingers crossed that they don't mind me posting this. Also, the loan program seems to be independent from scholarships, I was awarded a reasonable scholarship and I was still allowed to take the maximum amount out in loans.

• Individual maximum amount varies and is determined by Tuck’s Financial Aid office by performing needs analysis
• Finance up to the cost of tuition and mandatory fees (not to exceed $57,000 annually)
• Apply once and secure financing for your entire graduate studies with a unique Line of Credit structure
• Zero origination or pre-payment fees
• Variable interest rate based on Prime Rate plus 4.00% for student only
• 0.50% interest rate discount for borrowers with an approved U.S. co-signer
• Co-signer not required
• Interest is added to principal upon entering repayment
• Flexible repayment options, including full deferment of payments while in school
• 20 or 25 year repayment period, depending on loan balance – or repay early at any time with no penalty
• 6 month grace period prior to entering repayment
• 0.25% rate discount for automatic electronic payment during repayment
• Optional graduated repayment which provides lower payments during the first two years of repayment
• 24/7 Call Center and Online Application
• Loan is granted and held by your not-for-profit credit union – a lender relationship you can trust

Tuck will determine the maximum line of credit amount the student may be eligible to borrow. This is determined by a needs analysis based on a variety of factors, including cost of the program, their ability to contribute, debt levels consistent with successful repayment, and availability of funds. The school reserves the right to limit or decline educational loans or lines of credit on the basis of a student’s overall debt burden, credit history, or other relevant factors.

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Hello Everyone ,
It seems the post is not active for a long time . I wanted to know about some private funding options for international candidates.
Besides,Can some please post updated list of colleges which offer loans to its candidates without us cosigner?
Preferably categorize colleges in following categories.

1. Full fees+expenses( expenses like room) for international candidates
2. Mandatory fees only for international candidates
3. Can be fully funded but from private lenders.


Please do keep post alive. It's really beneficial to international candidates.

Hi there,

Here is my situation (quite complicated) and I would like your help, advice, tips, comments.
I am Portuguese. I am currently living and working in Canada (Montreal). I came here to do my undergraduate and got a job in Finance just after (very recent).

I have been accepted at MIT Sloan MBA program but I do not know how to pay for not only the tuitions fees but also the live expenses of Boston.

Here is a quick summary of my situation:
- My Family is very very poor, so not an option at all
- I have few thousands of dollars (canadian) in my account but nothing too fency
- The Portuguese Banks (due mostly to the economic conditions) are not able to help me (No banks is financing abroad studies)
- I am not a permanent resident in Canada (work permit)
- I have no co-signer for the loan application
- I do not have historical credit (Cultural habits), I always pay cash (just a credit card)
- Not sure that my employer is willing to pay for such a cost

Should I reconsider going to a MBA (by the way it has always been my dream and it is my number goal).

Do you know other ways? how can I get a student loan in Canada or the US ?

am I screwed ?

Thank you for your time and consideration,

No buddy you're not screwed at all. There are companies who offer loans to international students. Have you heard of Prodigy finance? Its just one of those companies. Secondly I believe MIT Federal Credit Union provides loan assistance up to $170,000 for students enrolling at MIT Sloan program without the need for a co-borrower.

Hope this helps

The loan does sound like a rip, but sometimes we don't exactly have a choice, I know. I had no idea that Columbia didn't offer no co-signer loans, so this is a great heads up for future applicants, even though they might secure one next year.

So Columbia doesn't offer no-co-signor loans but Prodigy Finance is a great place for international students to get non co-signor loans. I am a Columbia student and got a loan from Prodigy at a very reasonable rate and without any collateral. Even the process is very simple.

For a majority of the schools, prodigy only finances up to the max of "tuition and fees". Does anyone know what "fees" entail? Does it include the compulsory health insurance fees, etc.? I tried contacting Prodigy but I got an automated response saying that it would be some time before they got back to me.

Also, I'm not sure about how loans/scholarships on just tuition work:
1. Say a school is going to cost me $100k - $60k is tuition and the remaining $40k on living expenses, books, etc.
2. Say I get a scholarship of $10k towards tuition.
3. There is a loan program that allows me to take out $60k towards cost of tuition.
4. If I am granted the $60k loan, can I not use $50k on it for the tuition-post-scholarship amount and then remaining $10k of the loan money towards living expense?

Does anyone have any idea on how it works??