Financing your MBA - International Students

Cost of living varies a lot depending on your life style, but as a reference a one bedroom close to KFBS is about $900 a month, now if you are willing to have a roommate you could be paying $500 to $600. If you eat on campus probably you will need $15 a day for food (much cheaper if you cook).

One thing you have to keep in mind is that the $21k is what the US government asks you to prove in order to get a visa. Chapel Hill is much cheaper than Chicago or NYC, if you watch your expenses you could need only $10K a year, but not likely.

I hope this helps

Can anyone share your experience with Haas (UCB) on Financial aid?

Absolutely, Thanks Will. This helps a lot & is the most clear information I have received thus far.
Cheers!!

I haven't really looked at loans yet - just been focusing on getting my apps in and hopefully have a school to go to in the Fall. I'm a Canadian and will have worked in the US for 2 years by the time I go to business school. Does anyone know if I can still qualify for the US-based loans? Or am going to have to go down the international path?

It's going to suck to have to give up my L1-A visa but 'tis life I guess...

Interesting topic, but I don't understand how business schools would be very sure that the international student will pay his/her loan back, especially that most of them will leave the states after graduate!

Hey Ariel, This is a great thread and I'm glad that I stumbled upon it!

I am really curious to know how you managed to work around the fact that Cornell does not allow the student loan to be used on the declaration of finances form? I recently heard from admissions that my application, which was wait listed in R2, is being considered for the class of 2013 provided I can work through the VISA part pretty quickly. But I know for sure that gathering the financial resources in order for Cornell to issue me the I-20 is going to be very tough......so any light you or other current students could shed on this will be really very helpful.

If a person(non resident, non citizen) has worked here and his/her credit history is good, will that credit score help in securing the student loan for MBA in US?
Will that help him in securing loan for MBA outside USA?

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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Really, really annoying to be hit with news like that after you're in. Well looks like it's good-bye Cornell for me too. What's even more annoying is how they never place information like this on their websites. I'm selecting my schools based on whether or not they offer loan programs to international students without a co-signor - so even after restricting myself (good-bye dream school Wharton) - I now have to prepare for being hit with annoying terms as the one given above. GREAT!

I'm sure people who have been looking to apply to Columbia have already seen this on their financial aid website, but if you haven't its pretty useful - www4.gsb.columbia.edu/null/International+Resources?exclusive=filemgr.download&file_id=7218279&showthumb=0

We all know that Ross doesn't offer loans for international students wo co-signer this year. What do to do next? Is it possible to contact any banks asking about a direct loan wo co-signer? If yes, what banks should I choose from?

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Hi dude , take the list of top-100 banks worlwide and contact them one by one.
Ask your current employer to provide you a loan.

You know, in Moscow there are plenty of financial sources, but the question is would you agree to pay the higher interest?! Check Societe Generale, they provide loans to russian MBA students, but interest rates are high ehough.

Hi all, a bit late for this post but did any body figure out a generic option for covering cost of education in US MBA's for Indian/Chinese students? Apart from Kellogg/Wharton/Booth/HBS which have their own programs, is there any other institution in the US which covers our loans?

I heard somebody above got Citibank for the first year at an exorbitant interest rate, which is what I may be forced to do in the end as I'm Indian, but otherwise what else? What about 2nd year?

Hi Aximili,

I don't think you will find a generic U.S. loan option for international students who don't have U.S. cosigners. If you have a U.S. citizen (or permanent resident) willing to cosign for you then most private student loan options are open for you.

Most top MBA programs however do have loan options for international students which don't require U.S. cosigners. HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Booth, Tuck, Darden, and Johnson are the schools I am aware of having no-cosigner loans. I am sure there are others. Top schools of note which don't have a no-cosigner loan option are Ross and Columbia.

Hope this helps.

i am looking financial aid for my distance MBA. Need suggestions.
Thanks in advance

I think without a co-signer, the interest rate from any U.S. based loan may be as much as a student loan from India or Citibank.
You will probably have to weigh your options at that point.
The bottom line unfortunately is :either way you will have to pay a pretty hefty interest on the loan

Just keeping this thread active for a second year in a row, thanks first to the OP for bringing this topic up. I was curious to know if you guys had any info on how an international applicant's US credit history impacted securing student loans from the school's credit unions. My background is I am currently on H1B and I have lived in the US for a good 10 years. I have a good credit history. Does this impact the credit rate I might receive should I go for a US loan?

Also, I think this goes without saying that it is important to check if a school offers a loan without co-signer prior to applying. From what I heard last year, McCombs Austin does not offer student loans.

Hello everyone,

I am really glad I found this thread, it is really important and the whole financial aid matter is not explored enough on this forum as much as it is for domestic US students.

Like many international students here, I will not apply to any school I could see myself in because of the financing options. For example, there is no reason for me to apply to Wharton if my country in western Balkans is sanctioned by OFAC on Quorum loans offered by Wharton. The only way for me to finance my MBA is through private loans and scholarship while the personal assets will be just a humble contribution. And if I cannot get aid from the schools, potential admission would not matter to me if I could not attend.

After my research I see it is doable to get these loans but not at all schools. For example, at Duke/MIT you can fully finance your MBA through loans while Columbia does not offer them to international students. I think the key before applying to any school in the USA is knowing your limits (or limits of the school). You simply cannot think the same way Americans do about attending, say, Columbia unless you come from a very wealthy family or country (wealthy countries have better financial markets and better options of getting those loans).

My goal is to find a dream school out of those that offer loans and there is nothing wrong with that. To help some people out, I created a small table about financing options at 14 schools in the US. Some of these schools are of interest to me, some of them I looked into just for my curiosity. The file is attached to this post, you will be able to see the price of the first year, availability of loans, specialization of some schools (not fully researched), and scholarship range I looked from Aringo MBA admission consulting website.

My question for you people is this: I know that if I got into Duke I would be able to get loans for the cost of attendance. Naturally, I would prefer to get a scholarship first and to cover the rest in loans. But, is it realistic to hope for a person (not just me and my profile) to get both scholarship and loans, or it is 1) full loans or 2)partial scholarship while I cover the rest?

p.s. let's keep this topic alive!

EDIT: So a person PMed me with various questions regarding the spreadsheet I created. I realized it is not comprehensible for most people (I do not blame them), so I am editing this post by posting my reply to the person who has sent me his questions. I hope it clarifies things a little more for all of you.