racoomelon

Okay, so I just want to check and make sure-- I saw that we can do FASFA as "will file", and then go back and change it. My parents still have my brother and I as dependents, so I have to wait for them to file their taxes. My dad has been a bit slow to do so this year, but I wanted to make sure I had my FASFA submitted sooner rather than later, so I did the "will file". This is okay, right? It said my FASFA was submitted and would be reviewed, then had a charming little blurb about how you can be charge up to 20k for misfiling. So I'm kind of worried about this, but I think I'm just over-thinking it. Gah. The other thing I was worried about is that I only chose my current school as the school option-- was I supposed to choose all of the potential schools I'd like to attend?

I just turned down my spot at Redlands, so hopefully that'll help someone! Good luck.

I saw something kind of similar in Texas-based loan forgiveness programs. They allow PhD's to receive loan forgiveness if they work a state universities that are in high need of professors. So you might not get a job at a prestigious school, but hey! Loans forgiven. Here's the link. It's from a two years ago, so I'm not entirely sure if they're still practicing this. It seems like the 10 year loan forgiveness option might be replacing a lot of independent, state loan forgiveness options. http://www.hhloans.com/files/dmfile/LRPSLPAApplication201320142.pdf

It's incredibly inconsiderate! Most programs give you at least a few weeks before April 15th, just so you can make a decision with all of the choices in front of you. They could be putting people in a position where they either don't accept a program they got into in the hopes they'll get in there, or where they accept a program as a safety net with the intention of turning it down once they hear back. It's just encouraging a lot of bad stuff.

That's awfully late... Most programs require you to make a decision by April 15th. It's weird that they'd take that long, knowing that most people have already committed to a program.

It depends on the program, but generally you don't need to file for FASFA in order to be considered for funding! None of my programs do-- funding is all based on merit. That said, one of the schools my brother applied to requires FASFA for funding (different field, but still). But they stated this very clearly in the letter they sent him. In the SLP field, I think TC Columbia does give funding based on the FASFA (and I'm guessing this is the program you're referring to). I think your best bet, if you'd like to be 100% sure and safe, is to email the director of the program and ask about funding opportunities.

It does seem somewhat questionable, ethically. But I get the sense that the programs want to avoid sending out too many acceptance letters, and, seeing as how funding can make or break someone's decision, they might decide to give funding to someone they haven't heard back from so that they can try to secure them in the cohort. On the other hand, funding tends to be merit-based, or at least for UA it is, so a program probably wouldn't penalize you for responding too soon. I think?

I really want to commit to my offer from the University of Arizona because I think I'm going to go there regardless of whether or not I receive funding. That said, I don't want to discourage funding... so do y'all think I should wait? Because I could see schools saying "oh, she's super invested! Give her some money" or going the direction you've said and saying "nah, she's already going so there's no reason to give her funding."

Is there one for University of Arizona? Also, I'm assuming we should wait to join a FB group until we've accepted our spot...?

Are you definitely not going to get any funding for TC? If you're waiting to hear back about funding, I'd sit it out! They could be pretty generous and I've seen a lot of people mention tuition scholarships the TC awards. There's a big difference between paying the full tuition cost versus getting financial aid that helps out but doesn't cover everything. If they're reducing tuition to more reasonable costs and you think it's a better fit for you, I'd go for it. There's some really good advice about funding somewhere on this forum. I think the advice was that you should avoid taking out more in loans than you would expect to make your first year of working (which I'd say is ~52k). The poster laid out how much you can expect to earn by week and how much loan money you'd have to pay (for just a federal loan) in a month. It put things in perspective for me. There are also loan forgiveness options if you're dead set on it.

Redlands is sending out acceptance letters!

It does seem like you'd be able to get a lot more benefits as a clinician, in regards to loan forgiveness, than as a professor. I'd really like a PhD, but depending on how much I rack up in loans I might not be able to. I'm assuming this is a common sentiment haha. On a similar, but slightly different, note-- don't most programs 'pay' for their PhD students? I have a friend who got a full ride to the OSU clinical psych program, and she said it's pretty typical for doctoral programs to pay your way in the form of assistantships and what not. Thoughts or comments?

I think funding typically refers to the aid the school gives you that you won't have to pay back. So all of the things you've listed would count, to me, as funding because you're not going to be asked to repay the program. It's money 'given' to you, so to speak. Loans/FASFA are different.

@alexagrace I think I actually met one of the pregnant ladies you're talking about! I was doing an observation and the student I was observing was pregnant with triplets. ASHA reported that 14 students generally get some form of funding help, but I take a lot of what EdFind says with a grain of salt haha. They might not actually give out that much funding. But I'm guessing that the program has more tuition scholarships to give out than assistantship positions, so I'm really hoping I get something. Out of state tuition for UA is no joke! And that's very good to know about clinical placements. I haven't had a lot of exposure to the clinic on campus, so I'm not entirely sure what we have going on. But I can see how we'd have more child-based positions than adult-based-- most of the faculty I've met have had a research focus based on children.

I'd like to suggest going onto ASHA EdFind to see what the admissions for the schools look like! I found out about it after the fact, and it would have been immensely helpful had I known about it earlier. It has the added benefit of listing the areas of specialty in the program. If you're interested, there are also 3 year programs. Your options would be much more limited than they would with the post-bach, but it might be interesting to look into a few! A big plus would be that you wouldn't have to re-apply after you completed leveling coursework.

They released the salary of the UA president last year, and people were shocked that she was making that much. They keep raising tuition costs and it seems like maybe the money is pooling a bit too much in some areas.

Ah, my bad! The state I'm in right now has a lot of requirements you need to meet in order to become a resident. My brother is in Florida, and he was surprised that Arizona was so strict. Apparently in Florida, it's pretty easy to get residency (according to him). And looking at New Mexixo, it would take about a year to be a resident, if I understood correctly.

Yup! I'm here right now and I like Tucson a lot. One of my roommates is staying for a fifth year, so I would have housing figured out if I stayed. Plus I really like the program. I think I'd have a wide variety of research options. Portland would be fun to live in, and the weather would be a massive change from Arizona hahaha. Plus, I think some states have pretty laid back residency requirements, so you might be able to petition after a year if Oregon seems like a good fit.

@Gingiestrong The more I look into expenses for my top choice, I'm not sure if I could pay the out of state tuition without federal and private loans. So if I don't get funding, I'll have to decide whether or not I'm going to lump it. But at least Tucson is cheap! Are you still leaning towards Portland, regardless? A roommate (or three) might make rent affordable.

Yuuuup. I'm still waiting on funding for the program I would love to go to, but I'm considering taking out the loans I'd need to attend as a non-resident. I have another program offering me an amazing deal, but I don't think I'd be as happy there. Of course, me 10 years from now might strongly disagree with me now.

Yeah, funding is getting stressful. I don't even know where to start with the loans-- How much should you take out to be able to live during grad school? And will we need to take out a mixture of private and federal loans? WIll I get lucky with a few schools and get offered enough funding to avoid some of these loans? Working part time for ~15-20 hours at minimum wage probably won't cover rent and utilities in some of the pricier areas. It barely covers my rent right now, and I'm not paying all that much! So in my mind PT will help, but I think we'll still need to use the loan(s) to get through the rest of living expenses. So add that on to the loan for tuition, and holy hell that's gonna suck. You'd think that states would offer scholarships requiring you to spend a few years working for them, what with the high demand for SLPs and all. I know New York does it, and I know a few districts in Texas will do it for teachers... why not make this more of a thing? I wouldn't mind agreeing to be employed upon exiting grad school in exchange for my tuition being covered. That's a win-win.

Oh, so this is consistently a problem? Yeah, they need to do something about that... They can probably move the deadline a bit earlier or practice rolling admissions to avoid drowning in the number of applications. I know University of Delaware just opened (or is in the process of opening) a program. But a lot of universities don't have one at all-- I've gone through the ASHA EdFind to look at different schools (and to pass the down time working dreaded reception shifts at my job), and when I look by state I'm always shocked to see the lack of programs in some states. And most of the programs that do exist only offer 25 spots, so you can't get all that many people in. While I would prefer to be in a smaller cohort, those numbers can't make it easy to produce a lot of new SLPs. I think @orange23 makes a good point. I know that most people don't pursue PhDs because you only need an MS to practice, and most people probably aren't interested in working as professors. But if you have the large faculty you can have a larger cohort. So maybe more of us need to go the PhD route.

I'm betting the end of March will be when I hear back! I think the programs were a bit overwhelmed with the amount of applicants they had this year, so I wouldn't be surprised if funding information were also be a bit late.

I think most of my programs consider you for funding within the program without you needing to apply directly for it. Your general application counts, or something like that. Of course you can probably apply for funding outside of the program (which is what I'm considering), but I'm not sure how easy it would be to hold a GA position outside of my own program. One of the programs does require that you ask about and apply to assistantships, so I'm looking into that one a bit more!

I know haha. My top choice is too expensive without funding. I'd have to really consider how much I want to go there if they won't give me (at least) in-state tuition. it would be horrible if they didn't let us know before April 15th! But I feel like they would want to, just to ensure that their potential students don't go elsewhere.