FLAS at UW versus Loans at SAIS (Russia/Eurasia)

[BMCGirl10]

I'm posting this question on behalf of a friend. She received a FLAS to study Russian (MA) at UW-Madison. She was also admitted into the Russian and Eurasian Studies program at SAIS with 60k+ in loans. And she's a Fulbright finalist.

A - Can she defer a FLAS scholarship for one year? Will she loose that funding if she takes the year as a Fulbright scholar?

B - Can she leverage the FLAS funding at UW for more aid at SAIS?

C - Is full funding at UW better than the opportunity to attend SAIS with little to no funding?

Edited March 17, 2012 by BMCGirl10

[Zahar Berkut]

I'm posting this question on behalf of a friend. She received a FLAS to study Russian (MA) at UW-Madison. She was also admitted into the Russian and Eurasian Studies program at SAIS with 60k+ in loans. And she's a Fulbright finalist.

A - Can she defer a FLAS scholarship for one year? Will she loose that funding if she takes the year as a Fulbright scholar?

B - Can she leverage the FLAS funding at UW for more aid at SAIS?

C - Is full funding at UW better than the opportunity to attend SAIS with little to no funding?

My thoughts:

A. Probably not, but if she can defer program admission, it's likely they would vote for her funding again. Have her ask about it regardless.

B. She can try, and she should.

C. Difficult to say. Are both degrees in area studies, or is the SAIS one the standard MA program with an area studies concentration? There's a huge difference. The latter would be a professional degree with the hard skills training and connections that come with a top international policy program. The former would almost certainly be more academic, and less career focused. So it depends a lot on your friend's goals and ability to afford SAIS.