Question: I’m looking for advice. I was just notified that I got accepted to Stanford for graduate school (I really didn’t expect that), but seeing how it is so late in the year, I am guessing I was one of the last picked. Anyways, they never told me I was going to get any funding, but said it was “possible” to receive some at the last minute. Considering I was the last picked and I haven’t been notified yet, I am betting that I won’t get any money.
Anyways, I don’t have anywhere near the $60k I would need in order to attend Stanford for one year. The financial aid department said they only deal with loans and if I maxed out on what they offer, I would still be $30k under ($20k max loan + $10k savings).
On the other hand, I have been accepted to a “good” school (within the top 25). They promised me full funding through the year.
I would like to attend Stanford, but I can’t see the advantage of gaining a mountain of debt to get through graduate school. Assuming I get full funding through the 2nd year (and others if I get accepted into the doctors program), I would be in at least $50k of debt in addition to depleting all of my savings.
So I would like to ask how most people get through these ivy league colleges? According to some documents I read, Stanford only funds about 50% of the graduate students. I assume the others get through by outside scholarships or by a rich uncle.
Can someone help me? I’m at a loss at what to do!
Answer: Abe’s advice is good, but something is askew in the original post. $60,000 for one year is an astronomical amount for a graduate program in the Arts and Sciences (or engineering), so at first I thought the original poster was talking about the B-school, law school, or med school tuition (at professional schools, RA and TA positions are harder to get than in PhD programs).
But even they are nowhere near $60,000 in cost; for 2003-04 tuition, see . The most expensive school not surprisingly is the Business School, but even it is only $36,252 for the year. Obviously there’s housing and food on top of that, plus $101 for student body fees, $1,296 for health insurance, etc. but that’s still well short of $60,000. Even a 2-bedroom Stanford family apartment costs only $15,000 for the year; traditional dorms and apartments are $5,000-$10,000 for a year .
Maybe the original poster is referring to a program whose tuition is not listed on the Stanford Controller webpage, otherwise I don’t see where the $60,000 figure comes from. I think most (or at least many) Stanford engineering grad students come in with outside fellowships, which may explain why financial aid isn’t a priority for the staff in engineering to figure out. You should definitely ask the department for the names and contact info of current first year grad students in your department, and then ask them what they suggest, as advice will most definitely vary from department to department.
About getting enough in loans. In your admissions package, you should have financial aid that fills out until the amount of the “student budget”, which includes tuition and living expenses (including health insurance, personal, transportation, books, etc). They may have assumed that you could pay a lot of it on your own, and if you cannot, there should also be a section in the admissions package about outside lenders (like Bank of America) and their lending information. You really shouldn’t have trouble getting enough in loans.
One thing to think about is housing. As you probably know housing around Stanford is a little pricey (although, much better than previous years). In response to the tight housing market, Stanford provides cheap on-campus housing for grad students and subsidized off-campus housing for grad students that don’t get on-campus housing. The deadline to apply is Wednesday. If you think you’re going to attend Stanford, you should definitely apply for housing through the school, as the subsidies are about a third of the market price of housing here (which means hundreds of dollars a month!).
In comparing your choices, can you name “School B”? Also, which school do you think you would learn more at? Be happier at? Make better connections at? Etc. There’s more to grad school than salary…
About stringing along the other school, you should probably just let them know — you are considering an offer from Stanford and are in the process of negotiating any funding that may be available. I’m sure they’ll understand. Heck, it may even get you a better funding package at School B.
BTW, if Stanford does decide to offer you something, make sure you get it in writing!!!!
Good luck!
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