Another report back on the financial aid outlook at my top choices for grad school. I was planning to put off this deep dive for a little while, but then I got scared by this post from MFA or Bust, since Columbia is also my top school and I had no idea what reputation they had for funding their students. So, I pored through all of the school websites to get a sense for what’s out there. Pretty interesting… and more encouraging than I thought it would be… definitely skim through the specifics unless you happen to be in my exact situation.
Columbia
Merit-based fellowships listed – no separate application
Need-based scholarships listed – application submitted after admission
Outside awards:
$5k NSCS-Geico Graduate School Scholarship
$1k BPW/NY Grace LeGendre Endowment Fund, Inc.
Harvard
Base loan package comes first, before any other aid.
Need-based fellowships (almost 50% of class receives fellowships avg. of $22K).
“Restricted” fellowships listed that I didn’t qualify for (like, must be descendant of class of 1902 or resident of Fitchberg, Mass to apply)
CitiAssist loans was also indicated as a preferred lender
Stanford
Need-based fellowships, Outside aid
Siebel Scholars Program – at the end of the first year, 5 students are selected for top academic achievement/leadership/citizenship $25,000 tuition award
Berkeley
Haas Merit Scholarships – no separate application needed
Haas Achievement Awards – must answer optional essay question in application
Graduate Student Instructorships – available for the second year, can apply in Spring of first year (receive salary plus $4,300 fee remission)
Extensive Online Scholarship Database!!
NYU
$50,000 in funds for (apply first deadline) the Reynolds Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship
Teaching Fellow /Graduate Assistant / Stern Consulting Corp – can receive up to $14,400 in tutition remission
I’m not trained enough in the lingo yet to see if one school looks better than another, but it did seem like there really were REAL options to pursue at each school. This was much better than starting with some of the other general financial aid website resources out there too.
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3 comments:
I'm not sure if Columbia's poor funding is endemic to the entire school, or if it's just specific programs. But unlike my MFA, no one's going to mock you for going into debt for an Ivy League MBA--the alumni network alone is pretty damn impressive, never mind the great education.
Maybe I'll see you on campus in a year, when you're on your way to World Domination 101 and I'm on my way to How to Write Pretty workshop. ;]
The all in cost of tuition and living expense is about $200k - this excludes the opportunity cost of working during that 2 years.
The question here is not really financial support because they won't give you much (not for the top 5 schools). The question is really do you really need a MBA to get the job/career that you want? For me, the answer has been no.
The Siebel Scholarship is awarded at other business schools too, including Chicago GSB and Kellogg.
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