Sunday, May 4, 2014
The Financial Process.
How I wish I had a million dollars. The next step in the graduate school process was determining the best fit in terms of finances. To wich, at this point, I have nothing. I'm not bankrupt but I half jokingly state that my net worth is $0. Half jokingly.
Because of this I had to decline acceptance into USC. I waited for a scholarship from the department and even begged for a TA position, but nothing came up. Without their help I still had to come up with around 10G for the year, for two years and figure out how to pay 33+G for tuition only for my third year. This came to a total of 50G for three years plus living expenses. Basically...too much money I do not have.
As for Miami and SCAD, I still haven't heard back and American University graciously extended my deadline to April 30th. Unfortunately, without scholarships from either school, I will not be able to attend.
American University did offer a Merit Scholarship and a TA position. This definitely helps! I only have to put in about 2G a year for two years. Though, I may extend it to three years in order to get an MFA, but one step at a time.
Even after all of this I still had to spend a lot of time calculating costs. At one point it felt like studying for the GRE again. But, if anything, for all those of you who are going through the process, I leave you with these tips, financially speaking.
1. Spend a lot of time on the schools website to figure out the cost of tuition, fees, books, required equipment, etc.
2. If you can't find that info on the website turn to sites like Peterson's, College Calc they usually have a general idea of what certain things cost and it may help you round out your excel spreadsheet.
3. Create an excel spreadsheet, be it by hand or on an actual digital document. I started mine digitally but, alas, I am old school and felt better writing things down. Later, I sorted out my mess and did put things digitally.
4. Talk things over. Ask family, friends, S.O.'s, about costs. After all they may have a better idea. For example, I have family that lives in DC (well in Silver Spring) and I asked them for a guesstimate on grocery expenses, rent, etc for the area. This really came in handy when filling out supplemental scholarships.
5. Don't give up! Look for other financial opportunities. Though I have an amazing scholarship, having won one already makes me a likely candidate to win another.
I wish you guys the best of luck and well...let's keep things going!
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