amarie, unfortunately, the Harvard and Columbia financial packages you're referencing are restricted to undergraduate admissions, not for M.Arch programs, and neither Columbia nor Harvard have undergraduate professional degrees. The free rides they'll offer students from families with lower financial means would be restricted to their undergraduate BA Architecture programs (non-professional, liberal arts degrees), not for GSAPP or the GSD. If this is what you're looking for, then go for it, otherwise be warned that you may not be eligible for much need-based assistance.

would they even provide close to half the costs? this is really lookin bad.. its almost even making me reconsidering

it's definitely worth applying... you could conceivably get very significant aid from Columbia GSAPP, for example (up to a full package, including subsidized loans). Ditto for MIT and Yale. The GSD can be stingier with the aid, but they do have fellowships... just not enough to go around, it seems, so you never know.

note that many of those packages (at GSAPP and MIT) are merit, and not need-based, but they're still worth applying for.

thanks so much!

Amarie,

FYI, at MIT they award aid as a two step process. First, they rank the candidates based on merit. The top group get 100% packages regardless of financial need, up until they run out of funding for that group. The next group, gets grants, fellowships, workstudy, etc, based on BOTH a merit threshhold.. AND their financial need (so merit with the amount weighted on need, but typically around 50% in grants/fellowships), again, up until the point the money runs out. I'd say, at the end of the day, almost everybody gets something.

GSD has a shitty aid package - I wouldn't even bother unless you manage to land outside $$$. it's not a school for someone who comes from limited means.

i know the MIT has a relatively small class size. but MIT has a tuition-waiver program for people whose house income is less than 75,000.

[url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/tuition-0307.html]link[url]

also, UCinn (probably the cheapest out of all the schools you've listed) is a co-op program which would help you a lot, being able to work then study, and so on.

as for GSAPP, i believe they don't have ANY financial aid for non-US citizen or non-permanent resident.

try looking into UTSOA (University of Texas, Austin). i don't have much info on the programs, directions, focus, etc. but the program seems like a really well-rounded and tuition is probably among the lowest for non-residents/international.

that's all i know. i'm also from toronto looking into applying to US schools, so i've been trying to stay up-to-date with different programs, tuition, and what-not.

oh and most programmes don't offer university scholarships for non US residents for M.Arch - but you can get a grant after you've commenced your studies

can i get the permanent resident card (green card) being sponsored through a family member?

This is going to sound kind of stupid... but people whose family's seemed to make far less than my family (I guess they aren't really my family anymore) seemed to do much better in school that I did or the people around me who came from similar family backgrounds (household incomes between 175k-250k).

rich kid, you should have became an architect not a planner! you've got the family wallet support!

I was lucky to get a 7 year old used car with 170,000 miles on it and like 5 grand a year for school.

But expectations were higher. I practically was on the brink of being disowned for getting anything lower than a B-. And many of my friends and I had completely different (read: absurd) priorities.

I became interested in planning because I went to college at 15... where I instantly became pretty much a member of the "cash" economy. I had no credit, no ability to apply for loans, no ability to drive a car, buy cable, sign a lease, go to video rental stores, go to the movies et cetera.

Aside from writing checks, I was able to get my hands on a pre-paid credit card which gave me slightly more options.

For the first two years in college... I had no car, lived in a highly suburban environment (that had no sidewalks) and practically no place around me would hire me legally. It's a facet of my life that has pretty much haunted me since. For a long time, I had to do a lot of odd jobs (questionable employment) that was very intermittent.

I took much my failure personally out on myself for not being able to jump through hoops magically like everyone expected me too. It wasn't til a few semesters of history that I began to realize that people getting fucked over isn't necessarily specific to action than it is to place.

I also realized that the re-ignition of urban living through the Renaissance and Enlightenment (read: functional cities) gave many people much more functional and independent lives due to the proximity of capital and social scenes.

While I know the car can do it, I also realized that I had no car and that the environment I was living in was specifically designed to keep people like me out of it.

I started studying urban planning at this moment-- a path many of us "non-humans" were taking cut through our apartments property, around a public lake and through the corner of an office building. Apparently someone complained about it and they put up a twelve-foot high fence (on public property) around the lake effectively blocking our little shortcut.

The other route to campus was a mile and some change longer and required you to either walk on the margin of two very busy roads or in the grass filled with stickers.

Two weeks later, I was hit by a car (not really serious). On the same day, I had my mangled bike stolen.

Ever since that day, I've always wanted to be a planner to prevent what happened during my first two years of school.

That is quite a life story there Unicorn, goodluck with the journey to becoming a planner.

you know, I always enjoy reading your posts because they are always so elaborate on any topic that you are either a genius or are a good bullshitter.

I think the kid just has WAY too much time on his hands. If he or she was a genius they'd be out contributing to society instead of spewing bullshit all over every other thread in this forum.

Life Sucks.

just to confirm what urban goose said, the GSAPP, according to their website, doesn't offer any financial aid to international students.

http://www.arch.columbia.edu/school/thebulletin/financial-aid-international-students

yeah.. I really don't know what policies are for international students. The info I posted above are for domestic applicants. I didn't know different policies apply to people applying from abroad. Sorry if I confused anyone.

Welcome to the student debt prison club, hahahaha, you are funny, you thought we all have rich parents to go to expensive school.

"i dont want to hurt my parent's by taking out loans."

For grad school those would be YOUR loans and YOUR responsibility, no? If you aren't coming out of undergrad with student loans, personally I think you should count yourself lucky, hope you get scholarships to the schools you apply to, and deal with it if you don't. I could be wrong, but from the tone of your post it sounds like you have supportive parents who have done well by you. If your ambition drives you to pursuing an M. Arch then you may have to make sacrifices by way of loans or choosing a less expensive school or trying to get more work experience first. But, imho, coming of undergrad is a good time for a person to start thinking in terms of what they have to offer, not how much their parents make.

I come from a working class background, btw.

Why would it hurt your parents if you took out loans?

Most people who I know unless they received monies from the school and departments financed their graduate education with loans. And even some that did get those monies still took out loans.

The path to becoming a permanent resident is a bit tougher than just getting sponsored by a family member. That too costs money and takes time. Why not just go to grad school on a student visa? Do you want to stay in the US after you graduate?

If I didn't mention it enough up there, double check with the school's financial aid office that whatever scholarships they offer are available for international students. I didn't look through the websites in detail, so it might be in there somewhere. Also, DAAP offers coop if I'm not mistaken, so that would be worth looking into.

Also, like people have mentioned before, working for a while before you apply is also an option. That way you can finance a large chunk of your education yourself if you're worried about the financial burden this might have on your parents.

Considering you're living in Toronto, you can save on rent while you're working by living at home as well. Commuting from anywhere as far as Brampton or Mississauga is fairly easy.

Tis is good for you, works out so you get subsidized loans insted of unsubsidized loans. better if your parent show less income. I saved alot of money this way, then my mom got a raise after we appleid so it helped pay loans. Only on more year next semester wish me luck!