Who is Fafsa, and will he give me money?
May 14, 2010 5:55 AM Subscribe
Where does an American start to figure out how to fund a graduate education abroad?
I'm an American, living in the U.S., applying to an MA program in the U.K. It's expensive. I was lucky enough not to have to take out loans for my undergraduate degree, but as a consequence I do not know even where to begin looking for funding for this program (which has not actually accepted me yet). I realize what I'm probably looking for is a loan, but obviously a grant would be way better, if I knew what was available to people in my situation.
Besides "where do I start?" I have a couple of specific questions. I'm embarrassed by how little I know about this subject, so bear with me. :)
-What does it mean if the FAFSA website does not recognize the name of your school? Does that mean you are ineligible for loans for it?
-Is this process like shopping around for a mortgage? Do I go to a bunch of different banks and see who's got the most competitive rate? Is there the possibility you can be turned down for a loan?
-I know there are several different Fulbright programs, and I know they're all extremely competitive. Do any of them apply in this case? What about the British Council?
-Is there a helpful organization that coordinates this stuff for people in this situation?
A couple of relevant points:
-the school in question has assured me that their funding goes more or less entirely to Europeans, so that's an unlikely source of help.
-this a degree in the applied arts, not a biomedical-research type fully-funded degree. I'm going to have to pay for it myself.
(Asked anonymously only because my username and history don't exactly make my identity a secret, and my employer does not need to know I'm thinking about leaving.)
I'm an American, living in the U.S., applying to an MA program in the U.K. It's expensive. I was lucky enough not to have to take out loans for my undergraduate degree, but as a consequence I do not know even where to begin looking for funding for this program (which has not actually accepted me yet). I realize what I'm probably looking for is a loan, but obviously a grant would be way better, if I knew what was available to people in my situation.
Besides "where do I start?" I have a couple of specific questions. I'm embarrassed by how little I know about this subject, so bear with me. :)
-What does it mean if the FAFSA website does not recognize the name of your school? Does that mean you are ineligible for loans for it?
-Is this process like shopping around for a mortgage? Do I go to a bunch of different banks and see who's got the most competitive rate? Is there the possibility you can be turned down for a loan?
-I know there are several different Fulbright programs, and I know they're all extremely competitive. Do any of them apply in this case? What about the British Council?
-Is there a helpful organization that coordinates this stuff for people in this situation?
A couple of relevant points:
-the school in question has assured me that their funding goes more or less entirely to Europeans, so that's an unlikely source of help.
-this a degree in the applied arts, not a biomedical-research type fully-funded degree. I'm going to have to pay for it myself.
(Asked anonymously only because my username and history don't exactly make my identity a secret, and my employer does not need to know I'm thinking about leaving.)
Hey there. I did an MA in the UK. Here's the scoop:
You are able to get Stafford Loans for studying abroad. You'll need your UK university to actually do some work that they might not be very good/quick at.
In 2005 I had to go through a private loan company to facilitate my Stafford Loan - I did Citibank because it was the only one that would deal with me and my UK-ness. This may have changed in recent years as the private loan industry has changed.
1. Fill out your FASFA with no school name.
2. Get accepted
3. Contact the international student department and the financial aid department. Be ready to do a lot of the work and to have to prod them. You need to get proof of enrollment first of all. (You'll need this for your visa too, BTW.)
4. Citibank receives notice from your UK school that you are in fact enrolled.
-- you fly to the UK -- (Open a local bank account - which is a total pain in the ass.)
5. Citibank issues a check in US dollars to your school in the mail! It takes WEEKS for it to get there. (I think that I was already in school for nearly a month and I had done as much as possible far in advance.)
6. You're like what the heck can I do with this check?
7. Go to your local bank (mine was HSBC) and deposit your cheque.
8. Wait WEEKS (~5?) for it to get deposited and enter into your bank account. I think that I didn't have my money until nearly December and school had started in October.
So yeah, it sucks, but it is doable.
And, just to throw it out there - while I had TONS of fun doing my UK degree, the cost of paying rent and living in the UK, even for less than a year, really sucked in retrospect. I was at a pretty prestigious UK university and I don't think that it has helped my career in the least. I don't want to speak for all my classmates, but if Facebook is any indication, they haven't really been helped by it either.
If I were to do it all over again, I would first assess if getting an MA is actually beneficial to me financially, in terms of time loss and potential income increase. Then I'd do an American MA program and try for a TAship that would reimburse me for something or get a work/study to cut down on some of the initial costs. Most MA programs are not beneficial. The fun that I had living in the UK came at a very high cost.
And feel free to MeMail me for more...
posted by k8t at 9:29 AM on May 14, 2010
You are able to get Stafford Loans for studying abroad. You'll need your UK university to actually do some work that they might not be very good/quick at.
In 2005 I had to go through a private loan company to facilitate my Stafford Loan - I did Citibank because it was the only one that would deal with me and my UK-ness. This may have changed in recent years as the private loan industry has changed.
1. Fill out your FASFA with no school name.
2. Get accepted
3. Contact the international student department and the financial aid department. Be ready to do a lot of the work and to have to prod them. You need to get proof of enrollment first of all. (You'll need this for your visa too, BTW.)
4. Citibank receives notice from your UK school that you are in fact enrolled.
-- you fly to the UK -- (Open a local bank account - which is a total pain in the ass.)
5. Citibank issues a check in US dollars to your school in the mail! It takes WEEKS for it to get there. (I think that I was already in school for nearly a month and I had done as much as possible far in advance.)
6. You're like what the heck can I do with this check?
7. Go to your local bank (mine was HSBC) and deposit your cheque.
8. Wait WEEKS (~5?) for it to get deposited and enter into your bank account. I think that I didn't have my money until nearly December and school had started in October.
So yeah, it sucks, but it is doable.
And, just to throw it out there - while I had TONS of fun doing my UK degree, the cost of paying rent and living in the UK, even for less than a year, really sucked in retrospect. I was at a pretty prestigious UK university and I don't think that it has helped my career in the least. I don't want to speak for all my classmates, but if Facebook is any indication, they haven't really been helped by it either.
If I were to do it all over again, I would first assess if getting an MA is actually beneficial to me financially, in terms of time loss and potential income increase. Then I'd do an American MA program and try for a TAship that would reimburse me for something or get a work/study to cut down on some of the initial costs. Most MA programs are not beneficial. The fun that I had living in the UK came at a very high cost.
And feel free to MeMail me for more...
posted by k8t at 9:29 AM on May 14, 2010
Also, sit down and spend some time with this book. Obviously it's way too expensive to buy a copy for yourself: you want a library copy, and ideally you want someone at the careers service of your undergraduate university to help you learn how to use it: it's practical once you know how it works, but not intuitive. There are all kinds of strange little funding opportunities out there with weirdly specific eligibility criteria, and you never know when one of them is going to be made for you.
posted by lapsangsouchong at 9:27 AM on May 15, 2010
posted by lapsangsouchong at 9:27 AM on May 15, 2010
You have to be careful with UK MAs. The MA is a recent addition to the system, and there are rumours around that some programs have just been created or expanded with the primary intention of soaking money out of foreign - mostly American - students. (It doesn't help that UK academics have an unfounded stereotype that Americans are all much more well-to-do). That's not to say that there are not good programs, just that you should be a bit wary and think carefully about the what each program offers in terms of skills-development, etc.
If your program is an academic one, you still may be able to get funding -- it doesn't have to be a science degree. University-based funding is largely aimed at UK and European students, but there may be specific grants for "Overseas" students (what they call everyone else) or even for Americans. My husband received funding from a Commonwealth Fund (University-based funds for Commonwealth students) and his College while taking a PhD in History; his masters was funded on a scholarship from his undergraduate university.
You may find more sources of funding in the US than in the UK -- I would search high and wide for these. The grants register is a good place to start, as is wildly googling every applicable keyword you can think of. If your topic of study hits certain current concerns -- e.g. studying a key language like Arabic or a topic like International Relations -- you may find targetted funding. Fulbrights are hard to get when going to a friendly country, all the more so when it is an Anglo-phone as well. It's worth an application -- especially if you fit their general parameters -- but don't bank on it.
Unfortunately, there really isn't a one stop shop for this information. My own search for funding to study in the UK was frustrating due to lack of information, and in the end unsuccessful. Just about the one thing I learned was that you need to start much earlier than you would for funding to an American program. If you are already applying for admittance this October, it may be too late; you need to be applying for funding about 12 months before you want to start your program.
posted by jb at 2:19 PM on May 18, 2010
If your program is an academic one, you still may be able to get funding -- it doesn't have to be a science degree. University-based funding is largely aimed at UK and European students, but there may be specific grants for "Overseas" students (what they call everyone else) or even for Americans. My husband received funding from a Commonwealth Fund (University-based funds for Commonwealth students) and his College while taking a PhD in History; his masters was funded on a scholarship from his undergraduate university.
You may find more sources of funding in the US than in the UK -- I would search high and wide for these. The grants register is a good place to start, as is wildly googling every applicable keyword you can think of. If your topic of study hits certain current concerns -- e.g. studying a key language like Arabic or a topic like International Relations -- you may find targetted funding. Fulbrights are hard to get when going to a friendly country, all the more so when it is an Anglo-phone as well. It's worth an application -- especially if you fit their general parameters -- but don't bank on it.
Unfortunately, there really isn't a one stop shop for this information. My own search for funding to study in the UK was frustrating due to lack of information, and in the end unsuccessful. Just about the one thing I learned was that you need to start much earlier than you would for funding to an American program. If you are already applying for admittance this October, it may be too late; you need to be applying for funding about 12 months before you want to start your program.
posted by jb at 2:19 PM on May 18, 2010
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posted by decathecting at 7:12 AM on May 14, 2010