Program changes due to COVID-19

[Coffeetea]

What are people's thoughts re: deferring for a year? There will be a vaccine available by then, classes won't be remote, and by graduation we will be hopefully closer to the end of any recession that occurs. That being said, what are the chances of funding being worse next year? I'm thinking quite likely ? 

[MPAdreams2020]

1 hour ago, Coffeetea said:

What are people's thoughts re: deferring for a year? There will be a vaccine available by then, classes won't be remote, and by graduation we will be hopefully closer to the end of any recession that occurs. That being said, what are the chances of funding being worse next year? I'm thinking quite likely ? 

@Coffeetea you are bringing life to this forum today!! Thank you!

If you would've asked me a week ago, I would've said there's no way I'm deferring but as time passes I am really starting to consider it. The advocacy work I'm doing at the moment seems more crucial than ever and then there's the whole online factor to consider. Gonna wait a couple more weeks to make a decision. 

[EspressoDoble]

Just in: Fletcher has extended their enrollment decision deadline by roughly 10 days, to April 1. 

[GradSchoolGrad]

On 3/29/2020 at 5:07 PM, MPAdreams2020 said:

@Coffeetea you are bringing life to this forum today!! Thank you!

If you would've asked me a week ago, I would've said there's no way I'm deferring but as time passes I am really starting to consider it. The advocacy work I'm doing at the moment seems more crucial than ever and then there's the whole online factor to consider. Gonna wait a couple more weeks to make a decision. 

 

On 3/29/2020 at 3:41 PM, Coffeetea said:

What are people's thoughts re: deferring for a year? There will be a vaccine available by then, classes won't be remote, and by graduation we will be hopefully closer to the end of any recession that occurs. That being said, what are the chances of funding being worse next year? I'm thinking quite likely ? 

So one thing to think about is how COVID-19 will probably scare away a lot of the Chinese international students (make that international students period). Their full tuition (or close to full tuition) payments subsidize a lot of funding for American students. My bet is that funding will decrease.
 

Another thing to think about is how if you defer to next year, funding may decrease by virtue of competition - as in a lot more people will be trying to ride out the recession by going to grad school, and you'll have to compete with them for funding. 

Edited March 31, 2020 by GradSchoolGrad

[MPAdreams2020]

1 hour ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

 

So one thing to think about is how COVID-19 will probably scare away a lot of the Chinese international students (make that international students period). Their full tuition (or close to full tuition) payments subsidize a lot of funding for American students. My bet is that funding will decrease.
 

Another thing to think about is how if you defer to next year, funding may decrease by virtue of competition - as in a lot more people will be trying to ride out the recession by going to grad school, and you'll have to compete with them for funding. 

These are really good points! Thank you! I vacillate back and forth almost daily. Not much time left to make up my mind...

[shahan588]

14 hours ago, EspressoDoble said:

Just in: Fletcher has extended their enrollment decision deadline by roughly 10 days, to April 1. 

Berkeley has extended their enrollment decision deadline to June 1st (from April 15th) for their Master of Information Management and Systems program.

[Yass]

6 hours ago, GradSchoolGrad said:

 

So one thing to think about is how COVID-19 will probably scare away a lot of the Chinese international students (make that international students period). Their full tuition (or close to full tuition) payments subsidize a lot of funding for American students. My bet is that funding will decrease.
 

Another thing to think about is how if you defer to next year, funding may decrease by virtue of competition - as in a lot more people will be trying to ride out the recession by going to grad school, and you'll have to compete with them for funding. 

I'm not sure if it would really discourage Chinese students to enroll in the program. Even though there might be increased hostility against foreigners in China and China has temporarily ban foreigners from entering the country, this is all short-term and a degree from a top US institution is still worth a lot in China. Therefore, I don't think that just because of COVID-19, Chinese students will now all give up their admission or defer their offers... In the end these are all speculations and we can only wait and see how the situation develops. 

[GradSchoolGrad]

52 minutes ago, Yass said:

I'm not sure if it would really discourage Chinese students to enroll in the program. Even though there might be increased hostility against foreigners in China and China has temporarily ban foreigners from entering the country, this is all short-term and a degree from a top US institution is still worth a lot in China. Therefore, I don't think that just because of COVID-19, Chinese students will now all give up their admission or defer their offers... In the end these are all speculations and we can only wait and see how the situation develops. 

I am not saying that Chinese students will all of sudden disappear. I'm just highlighting that the already well established trend of slowly diminished Chinese international student interest in US grad programs will sharpen. Chinese international students have been a reliable revenue source in the past 7 years or so for many programs, and even a partial displacement of that student population will have financial impacts on many US programs (some much more than others). The grad program I went to, Georgetown McCourt was interestingly 40% or so Chinese international students for my start class. I know they have diversified the international student population since then, but it is population that could determine a lot about the grad school experience.