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MArch Financial Aid - Tips for Negotiating
Hello everyone! Can anyone share their experience in successfully or unsuccessfully negotiating for additional financial aid? Who did you contact - how- what did you say?
I'm particularly interested in GSD but any general advice is much appreciated. thank you ......
hahaha I literally just committed to GSD and thinking that now I've lost my leverage when negotiating financial aid. Lowkey think I fucked up by committing too early, now they won't give a shit :( I could've told them how much other schools are giving me just to apply some pressure.
As I understand, the GSD grant is mostly a need-based grant. Tier 1 grant looks at your recent income, and Tier 2 grant looks at your parents income/assets if you choose to provide. Tier 2 is larger than 1, and providing your parents info doesn’t affect the amount of Tier 1, and they all have a maximum that you can get.
For students who get full ride are usually scholarships, which may be negotiable, but grants are fairly set.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for replying Leon! I applied for and received only tier 1 grant - I guess that means I'm not worthy of a scholarship, thus have no leverage to attain more funding? In other words, fat chance of negotiating for more $ if only received Tier 1 grant.
I didn't apply for Tier 2 because my parents have not committed to paying for grad school + their income may be too high to qualify for aid. That said, I don't know what GSD considers as limits.
gratuitous public service announcement:
No M.arch degree is worth $50K+ per year. It's not an "investment" to chase Ivy-whatever if you need to mortgage your future to get it.
Not to mention that you'll usually end up in school for an extra year.
The schools in the states are high, but it all depends on what the student wants out of the program. Some students were able to take the most advantage of programs and build connections for their careers, and some choose to be a fly on the wall through the program to get a diploma.
James, that in no way justifies taking out 100k tuition debt for "connections".
Yeah. I personally wouldn't take out 100k debt either, but to each their own.
Hey, NS - your initial point above is why I am asking for tips on negotiating! Got any?
@Luques Looool Ikk this post is obviously conscious of the cost of education, so these people that always come and say "100k isn't worth it" is soo annoying lool WEE KNOWWW AND ARE TRYING TO AVOID ITTTT
It’s not worth it.
Not GSD specific, so I'm not sure how their system works entirely. But when I was deciding between grad schools I decided which school I was the most interested in going to first. Then I let their offer sit while I asked 4-5 other schools for additional funding via email. I took the highest of those offers and sent an email / had a skype call (I was on a study abroad in Italy at the time without a phone) with the school I decided I actually wanted to attend & explained how interested I was in their program but how big of a financial investment graduate school was yada yada. They weren't able to match the best offer from the other school but their base tuition cost was lower so their second offer ended up covering most of my schooling / another study abroad anyways, so I didn't care. It's not about the dollar amount they give you, it's about the remaining balance you'd be responsible for.
All of the negotiating I did for scholarships was pretty informal, so I'm not sure how much that helps. But my advice would be to be bold with the schools you know you won't attend & then use those numbers in a very polite way with the schools you may plan to attend either way. As long as you're polite you're not going to hurt anyone's feelings, its a common request. School's expensive, they get that.
Who did you talk to? Did you email the school's financial office or the specific program?
I spoke with the specific program. Like I said it was a very informal process, mostly along the lines of "I'm very interested in your program but as we all know graduate school is a significant financial investment, therefore I would like to take this opportunity to speak with you regarding additional merit based funding."
I specifically asked for merit based funding because it's often at the sole discretion of the schools leadership to give out, thus no additional paperwork. Some schools offer GTA positions as well, which are worth X number of dollars in tuition stipends depending on credit hours. I had no interest in teaching & because of the study abroad I mentioned it was going to end up being additional credit hours to do, so I passed in favor of a smaller no strings attached tuition stipend.
I tried to edit my previous comment to include a disclaimer, but it wouldn't let me. I did want to point out that I only applied to schools with a 2 year accelerated program, because I had no interest in 3.5 more years of school after undergrad. So I mostly asking for money from large state schools like Florida, Virginia, Notre Dame, Michigan & Wash U in St. Louis. The system very well may be much different for smaller schools, but the principal remains the same. Don't be afraid to ask for money, worst case is they say no.
Hey! Did you specifically share the list of colleges v/s the relief they provided. I have a couple of scholarships on hand but keen on choosing GSAPP. Except I am quite unsure how to frame this and direct the conversation with the department. Also, is it a possibility to request a personal call with the finance department, accepted program's department? Whom should we connect with first?
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