SAIC FVNMA

[MUSHROOM666]

Hiiii!

anyone here get into SAIC's FVNMA program? wondering if you were offered any financial aid/funding. i can't see that i got any in the artic login...it's just blank. don't think i got the merit or i would have heard via email/phone. still waiting on my official acceptance in the mail...

given the price of tuition i feel like not offering aid to all accepted graduates is WILD.  maybe i'm too optimistic. funding does depend year to year and this year was wild with covid-19 and all...

gonna talk to staff/faculty real soon. just curious and thought id extend some feelers here first tho. negotiating tips/experiences for funding are welcome

[jbsp]

said never have good funding.

 

usually each dept has 1-2 full ride. sometimes they split.

[snipsnapsnout]

On 3/7/2021 at 4:28 AM, MUSHROOM666 said:

Hiiii!

anyone here get into SAIC's FVNMA program? wondering if you were offered any financial aid/funding. i can't see that i got any in the artic login...it's just blank. don't think i got the merit or i would have heard via email/phone. still waiting on my official acceptance in the mail...

given the price of tuition i feel like not offering aid to all accepted graduates is WILD.  maybe i'm too optimistic. funding does depend year to year and this year was wild with covid-19 and all...

gonna talk to staff/faculty real soon. just curious and thought id extend some feelers here first tho. negotiating tips/experiences for funding are welcome

Hello!

I was also accepted into the FVNMA program! Very much in the same boat as you. Haven't yet received my official letter and don't see any funding listed in artic. As much as I respect this program, I just don't think I can justify the cost of tuition...

Are you considering other schools? I have one other offer so far (MassArt), a couple interviews lined up (Iowa, Feirstein/Brooklyn College), and two more schools I haven't heard back from yet (UWM, Emerson). Unless there's some miracle of funding here, I imagine SAIC will prove the most expensive option. I've been searching for outside scholarships but haven't found anything so far...

[snipsnapsnout]

On 3/7/2021 at 4:28 AM, MUSHROOM666 said:

Hiiii!

anyone here get into SAIC's FVNMA program? wondering if you were offered any financial aid/funding. i can't see that i got any in the artic login...it's just blank. don't think i got the merit or i would have heard via email/phone. still waiting on my official acceptance in the mail...

given the price of tuition i feel like not offering aid to all accepted graduates is WILD.  maybe i'm too optimistic. funding does depend year to year and this year was wild with covid-19 and all...

gonna talk to staff/faculty real soon. just curious and thought id extend some feelers here first tho. negotiating tips/experiences for funding are welcome

Ah, replied too soon. I just logged into my Artic account, and the "Financial Aid" section has been updated with a grant along with work-study and loan offers! If you haven't looked recently, maybe look again!

I'm so happy to be offered something, but it's still looking like SAIC would cost me twice as much as MassArt.

[MUSHROOM666]

nice! congrats!!! still nothing for me and i'm pretty sure i'm doing it right. 

i wonder if it's cause i'm international...had a meeting w/faculty this morning and from what i interpreted it seemed like there was an extra layer of difficulty for international candidates. she was rooting for me though which felt really nice, said the dept would do what they can but she didn't want to mislead!

did you talk to faculty yet, try to suss out the financials? i tried to suss out the financial situation more but it basically seemed like i would get funding once they get more answers down the line, which might be past the date to pay the deposit...it depends who has confirmed, who hasnt, who might decide not.  

she told me to apply for appeal which i did, would only be 20% tho if i get approved T-T... so maybe you should apply to appeal asap!?

appeal + some other funding (if it does come through) i don't think would even bring me to 50% of the tuition...which is totally crushing...converting from USD to CAD is also looking prettttty tragic too...trying to stay positive/clear headed tho. i only applied to UCLA new genres (interviewed but no entry), piet zwart in rotterdam and I might apply to staedelschule's film/video department which is basically free.

didn't go super all out cause i didn't know if this would be good timing to go to grad school (right after COVID19). let's see though...maybe there will be an economic collapse and debt pardon because we are all in some form of debt anyways haha...more of us 99% then there are of them ? 

maybe i should just YOLO after this dumpster fire of a year...the amount of would incur without a merit is just absurd...i go back and forth between feeling totally disallusioned and feeling totally reckless 

[snipsnapsnout]

On 3/8/2021 at 6:16 PM, MUSHROOM666 said:

nice! congrats!!! still nothing for me and i'm pretty sure i'm doing it right. 

i wonder if it's cause i'm international...had a meeting w/faculty this morning and from what i interpreted it seemed like there was an extra layer of difficulty for international candidates. she was rooting for me though which felt really nice, said the dept would do what they can but she didn't want to mislead!

did you talk to faculty yet, try to suss out the financials? i tried to suss out the financial situation more but it basically seemed like i would get funding once they get more answers down the line, which might be past the date to pay the deposit...it depends who has confirmed, who hasnt, who might decide not.  

she told me to apply for appeal which i did, would only be 20% tho if i get approved T-T... so maybe you should apply to appeal asap!?

appeal + some other funding (if it does come through) i don't think would even bring me to 50% of the tuition...which is totally crushing...converting from USD to CAD is also looking prettttty tragic too...trying to stay positive/clear headed tho. i only applied to UCLA new genres (interviewed but no entry), piet zwart in rotterdam and I might apply to staedelschule's film/video department which is basically free.

didn't go super all out cause i didn't know if this would be good timing to go to grad school (right after COVID19). let's see though...maybe there will be an economic collapse and debt pardon because we are all in some form of debt anyways haha...more of us 99% then there are of them ? 

maybe i should just YOLO after this dumpster fire of a year...the amount of would incur without a merit is just absurd...i go back and forth between feeling totally disallusioned and feeling totally reckless 

Hey!

Shoot, yeah I do know financial aid is yet more challenging for international students. From what I can tell, I was only awarded a need-based grant (not a merit scholarship), which I don't think is available to international students. Yeah, I have also been in touch with the department about figuring out finances, and have a meeting with SFS early next week to go through the appeal process and whatever else might be available to me. I will be one of those students holding up possible redistribution of aid: I don't expect to hear back from all the programs I applied to until mid-April, so have gotten an extension on the commitment deadline.

Completely hear you about the back-and-forth on how to feel about the loans. What an emotional process, huh. Very very skeptical of what all this suggests about who has access to an MFA...

Still, it has been really amazing to be accepted into SAIC, and I hope you're feeling that, too! And congratulations on interviewing with such a competitive program as UCLA! Especially after such a difficult and isolating year, I've found it really affirming to know people respond to my work. I want to hold on to that feeling and enjoy the boost of confidence, and also keep it from influencing my decision about what program truly makes the most sense for me. Would love to end up with a difficult decision that isn't just based on finances...

[MUSHROOM666]

Agreed! Hope things turn out the best for you in holistic ways ?

[snipsnapsnout]

Turned down my offer today! Got all my decisions back sooner than expected. In the end I didn't connect with the program enough to justify the cost of tuition. I was only awarded need-based grants, but I hope that money can be sent to another student.

[MUSHROOM666]

Gosh! Glad you were able to come to that decision. I am also going to turn down my offer. They could only offer a 20% appeal to me...I am a bit sad about it to be honest. Getting some responses from the EU so not all is lost. Yes, I also hope this money can go towards another student as well.