funding options poll

Hi, As lots of PG members are scheduled to take off on their MBA journey this year and some are already pursuing MBAs abroad it would be of help to all of us if you guys could share your experience with funding your International MBA. I …

Hi,

As lots of PG members are scheduled to take off on their MBA journey this year and some are already pursuing MBAs abroad it would be of help to all of us if you guys could share your experience with funding your International MBA.

I am trying to post a poll where all we would like to know is, what kind of funding option was chosen by how many of our friends planning to go abroad/already there.

Please chose the most significant funding option i.e if you had a scholarship but that covered only 40% of your total cost and you had to go for a loan then you should chose loan as your option to give us the bigger picture. I am not sure how the poll exactly works on the PG forum as I would ideally like to provide options were you could assign percentages in case you chose a mix of options while arranging the funds but I guess thats asking for too much from a simple poll:smile:)

1. Personal funds
2. International Bank Loan (with an international Guarantor)
3. International Bank Loan ( without a guarantor)
4. Educational Loan from a PSU bank in India
5. Educational Loan from a Private bank in India
6. Loan against fixed assets (e.g. Home Mortgage)
7. Other Loans (personal loans etc.)
8. Scholarships and grants like tuition waiver
9. Part time work options
10. Others ( please mention the source if possible )

Your valuable input would be deeply appreciated by all of us. Also, I have not made the poll public so your vote would remain confidential and we would only be able to see the cumulative results instead of individual polls.

As lots of us have questions if an international MBA is within our reach and how do rest of the people achieve their funding objectives this would give all of us an idea of what all options are available, what is the general trend(i.e. which sources are being availed more often). If we have substantial number of votes we would also get an idea of how many scholarships are actually availed by International applicants as the perception is that scholarships are very few and normally not available. I have received personal queries where future applicants have asked me about my experience w.r.t the International loans , i.e. if they really happen or are just there but difficult to obtain. The poll might answer those questions.

Thanks a zillion

and what is it that u intend to acomplish with how ppl r funding there studies..

As lots of us have questions if an international MBA is within our reach and how do rest of the people achieve their funding objectives this would give all of us an idea of what all options are available, what is the general trend(i.e. which sources are being availed more often). If we have substantial number of votes we would also get an idea of how many scholarships are actually availed by International applicants as the perception is that scholarships are very few and normally not available. I have received personal queries where future applicants have asked me about my experience w.r.t the International loans , i.e. if they really happen or are just there but difficult to obtain. The poll might answer those questions.

I would also try to edit my original post and add the objectives to the text. Thanks for pointing this out.

desperado. Says
and what is it that u intend to acomplish with how ppl r funding there studies..

I would also try to edit my original post and add the objectives to the text. Thanks for pointing this out.


really strange that we dont have any thread on funding options till now.

seems like this will be useful.

Vipin,

I really doubt whether you can get any results from the survey & whether you can make a safe conclusion just because there are way too many parameters. 😃

BTW, where all have u apped or gonna app? :)

Cheers,
Simba

Ooops..I thought the poll would give some idea to the doubting thomas that there are lots of options to chose from and I didn't want to deprive the voting public of any options (although I still dropped in a humble"others"). I am open to deleting a few redundant options however I am not able to decide which ones should be dropped considering "zero" response. HELP !

I got admitted to HEC-Paris, Schulich Business School and Melbourne Business school but couldn't arrange the funding for any of these great schools. Now, I would be applying to B-Schools in US for fall'06 which offer guaranteed loans (and Duke is also on that list 😃 as I am looking at a general management track.

Ooops..I thought the poll would give some idea to the doubting thomas that there are lots of options to chose from and I didn't want to deprive the voting public of any options (although I still dropped in a humble"others"). I am open to deleting a few redundant options however I am not able to decide which ones should be dropped considering "zero" response. HELP !

I got admitted to HEC-Paris, Schulich Business School and Melbourne Business school but couldn't arrange the funding for any of these great schools. Now, I would be applying to B-Schools in US for fall'06 which offer guaranteed loans (and Duke is also on that list :smile: as I am looking at a general management track.


Vipin, I am so sorry to learn that finances became a major hurdle in your pursuit of an MBA. Same thing happened to me when I was apping for MS. I got admits from all the unis, but there were no financial assistance offered from them.
York and HEC sure were great options for am MBA, and they were also in my preference list.. But looking at your case, well I have reconsidered my decision. I will now apply only to the schools that can at least arrange a loan without a co-signer. I think that this one is the greatest options and very practical too.
Did you try for the post of RA in York? On website there seems to be plentiful scholarships..
Thanks, and keep posting.

Hi Vipin,
Did you try to secure loan from any bank based in India. HSBC offers educational loans upto 25 Lakh Rs. Did you try them out?

I did try HSBC but they were not able to offer much on the basis of their terms and conditions. The maximum limit is 25 lacs but to obtain that sort of a loan I guess the guardian's(main applicant) income should be 10 lacs per annum or more in addition to the equal or greater collateral value requirement.

For Schulich the scholarships and grants were mostly meant for Canadians(mostly for Ontario residents) and whatever was left was already allocated by the time my decision was declared.

I didn't have a choice but if you apply very early to HEC and Schulich your chances for scholarships and grants are higher. They are great places to do an MBA from as they stand out in terms of the diversity of the student population.

I was finally able to put together a survey which should be easier to answer and with information from enough number of respondents it would be a great resource for all Global MBA aspirants. This should not take more than 30 seconds.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=988271220486

The following schools have some kind of a guaranteed loan offer without co-signors (although from personal experience I would add that it would be best to confirm with the financial aid team before applying)

Also come schools have a cap in terms of the loaned $s per year, mentioned in brackets so it needs to be kept in mind if the loan would be helpful or not.

Kellogg
Chicago GSB
Wharton
Harvard
MichiganMIT Sloan
Duke - Fuqua
UVA -Darden($18,000/year)
NYU -Stern($40,000/year)
UNC - Kenan Flagler

Please let us know if someone has more information or would be able to add more details to the information.

Although 15 might not be a big enough sample size for the law of averages to work, but it would still give us some idea of what happened in the past with students who went for there MBA abroad.

Only 4 out of 15 respondents got 50-75% funding of their total cost. Although 8 out of 15 respondents used personal funds only 2 used it for 90-100% of the cost. There are a lot more combinations one can look at so happy analysing.

Also, if you know of people who can add there responses to this survey for a better picture, please request them to participate.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=988271220486

Hi Vipin, I understand that there are some universities who offer loans without a co-signer.

1) But do they offer it on the first year itself or from second year onwards only ?
2) Do they offer the loan at the time of admission so that we can produce that at the visa post as our source of fund ? Or do we have to make provisions for the first year expenses regardless. I understand that the loan will not cover the entire tution so we have to make provisions for the differential amount.
3) Can we have two education loans simultaneously ? One from a Indian PSU bank and the other from the bank associated with the university ?
4) I have found out that Indian PSU banks offer loan upto 4 lakhs without mortgage. Do you have any idea on what kind of guarantee they ask for in this case ?
Thaks a bunch for starting this thread.

Hi Vipin, I understand that there are some universities who offer loans without a co-signer.

Thaks a bunch for starting this thread.


1) But do they offer it on the first year itself or from second year onwards only ? Guaranteed loans or loans without a co-signor mostly cover both years and some schools include living, books and supplies expenses to the loan.

2) Do they offer the loan at the time of admission so that we can produce that at the visa post as our source of fund ? Or do we have to make provisions for the first year expenses regardless. I understand that the loan will not cover the entire tution so we have to make provisions for the differential amount.
Yes,loan documents are also sent to you once you get admitted so you could show them to the visa officer. If you get admitted to one of the B-schools which offer guaranteed loans(most of them have an excellent reputation considering that banks agree to give loans on their word), visa officers should not probe you too much on your finances. But, it is always better to show whatever funds you can show. There is no advantage in not going prepared with all your funds related papers to the visa interview. On the other hand, you can only show as much as you can so no need to worry about ( if it would be sufficient). Normally, if you can show your own funds equivalent to the first year's expenses they should be satisfied.

3) Can we have two education loans simultaneously ?
One from a Indian PSU bank and the other from the bank associated with the university.
Banks in India would ask you to sign an undertaking that you would not be taking any other loans apart from the loan being issued to you for that purpose. So, the simple answer would be No, as banks issue loans on the basis of your co-signor's payment capacity and the kind of debt burden you are already under.

4) I have found out that Indian PSU banks offer loan upto 4 lakhs without mortgage. Do you have any idea on what kind of guarantee they ask for in this case ?
They check the payment capacity of the co-signor, normally parents, as a guarantee. Some banks do not allow loans beyond 40% of the liability free income of the co-signor during the repayment period. e.g. if X's father earns 5 lacs per annum and there are no liabilities in terms of exisiting loans and X can pay the loan in 10 years, banks could sanction a loan of upto 20 lacs(which is 40% of 5 lacs X 10 years). However, like you said for any amount over 4 lacs banks would also ask for a collateral of equal or higher value.