RafJacob Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 Question: if one is told that he/she will be nominated for a financial aid package award (i.e. a fellowship) by his/her school's polisci Dept (at the PhD level), does that usually mean that he/she is bound to receiving the aid, or merely that he/she will be put in contention for receiving the aid?
Penelope Higgins Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 Most likely the department has nominated you for a university-wide funding competition, against candidates from other departments. Usually this means that you were one of the strongest overall candidates in their applicant pool, or one of the strongest candidates from an under-represented group (my university, for example, has funding set aside for first-generation college students applying to PhD programs) - but it might be that you were nominated for something like a FLAS fellowship if you work on a particular world region for which funding is available at the university level. There is no guarantee that you will actually get funding via this route, which is why the person who contacted you used the language of "nomination." So I would not accept an offer or decline offers from elsewhere until you have confirmation of funding. But it is a strong signal that you are likely to get funding. Congratulations.
PickMe! Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 Related question about funding: How does the FAFSA tie into all of this? I've been accepted to three schools with full funding but I have not filled out the FAFSA and the deadline to do so is the beginning of March. None of the schools have mentioned it in their correspondence. It could be that grad schools don't require the FAFSA but I vaguely remember hearing that they do want students to submit a profile. Anyone know any more about this?
blaspheming Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 Related question about funding: How does the FAFSA tie into all of this? I've been accepted to three schools with full funding but I have not filled out the FAFSA and the deadline to do so is the beginning of March. None of the schools have mentioned it in their correspondence. It could be that grad schools don't require the FAFSA but I vaguely remember hearing that they do want students to submit a profile. Anyone know any more about this? I came here to ask this question as well.
Jwnich1 Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 you only need to fill out a FAFSA if you want to take out loans. If your funding is a fellowship / RA / TA position, you can live FAFSA free AFAIK!
Megan Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 Do you need to talk to your program if you want to take a loan, or only to the graduate school?
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now