[Withdrawing application after deferring]

12 hours ago, TakeruK said:

No, you do not have any legal obligations. I cannot think of a reason why there would be a law that compels you to attend a particular school. Students always have the right to drop out of their academic programs.

However, there could be other complications. If you accepted financial support, the terms and conditions of that award might obligate you to certain things (e.g. repayment of award money) if you leave your program early. Or, if you had paid a deposit, you will likely lose it.

In addition, depending on the way the deferral was granted, the people at the school might feel that you are going back on your word. This could cause some professional harm to you in the future, but it's not easy for us to predict what this would be.

So, in summary: no legal obligation to attend any program. But maybe some financial or professional consequences, depending on your situation.

I apologize for not being clear enough in my last post. By "legal obligation" I meant, do I have to ask for a release? I suppose "deferring" an application is fundamentally same as "accepting" the admission offer, the only difference being the stipulation to attend at some later date. This is what concerns me.

Thanks mate and have a great day.

[Additional departmental stipend on top of GTA]

On 4/23/2017 at 9:35 PM, rising_star said:

It's entirely possible that the "department stipend" is another term for the tuition waiver you're receiving...

You cannot be more right. I asked the department about it and apparently, "departmental stipend" is yet another ambiguous term for "tuition waver". I guess it's one of those "April fool" prank on admitted students. Damn! A bubble of hope didn't last long.

[Withdrawing application after deferring]

Guys, does anyone know the complication that comes with withdrawing the application that was deferred from last year? I mean, do I face any legal obligation to attend this particular school that I've deferred? 

Thanks in advance.

[Additional departmental stipend on top of GTA]

46 minutes ago, nobraintrain said:

I also have additional department funds on top of GTA in one of my offers, so I guess it's not uncommon (although in my case they indicated it on the admission letter)

That is what I was looking for; I highly appreciate your input. I was confused at first, but apparently, it is not that unusual to have additional funds on top of one's GTA stipend. I will, however, check with the department regarding this issue. Thank you again.

Cheers,

ch1ndra

[Additional departmental stipend on top of GTA]

Hello everyone,

I've been a guest visitor to this forum for quite a long time, but this is my first post here, so pardon me if something is amiss. Anyways, I was offered an admission with full ride to this great university(say, X) and I happily accepted the offer. I was promised a GTA position that carried a stipend of around $11700 per academic year(9 months) and although it seemed quite low compared to other universities, a great research fit was what attracted me to this university in the first place. In fact, I was offered admission to 5 out of 6 universities, some of which had offered me a generous funding package. But I chose this particular university X due to the research fit, thereby overlooking funding aspects altogether. I was(and still am) under the impression that the PhD stipend is generous enough to cover all the living expenses in a particular area, so this did not look like a big deal to me. In fact, the "Living Expenses" plus "Books & Supplies" is just under 12k in the area where this school is located(health insurance covered by the university).

So, today I received my I20(a copy, anyway) and there is this piece that baffles me:

Estimated Average costs(for 12 months):

Tuition and fees : $642

Living Expenses : $11,800

Expenses of Dependents : $0

Books and supplies : $800

Total : $13,322

Students Funding (for 12 months):

Personal funds : $0

assistantship GTA: $11,700

dept stipend : $9,445

On-Campus Employment : *blank*

Total : $21,145

 

Are you kidding me? Did I just hit a jackpot? This "dept stipend" is something unheard of; I even searched the whole university website and there is no single mention of this type of stipend anywhere. It looks too good to be true. I was willing to settle on $11700, but out of the blue, this additional $9,445 brings additional charm to my life. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but I was under the impression that the only stipend I'm getting is that carried by the assistantship(GTA in this case). So, will someone please provide some insight on what possibly could this be "dept stipend"?

Before someone tells me I've better ask the department about it, which I will do eventually, I wanted to know your experience with such type of funding. So please, provide some input.

If it matters, the program is Computer Science(PhD).

Thank you all and have a great day.