Should I Even Bother Without Funding?

[1Q84]

Okay, so I have some pretty crappy circumstances in that professors have very much encouraged me to apply to their programs ("Top 10" schools in California), which has been galvanising, however they have also been very forthcoming about the fact that absolutely no funding is available for international students.

Should I still apply? I do plan on trying for some (unlikely) scholarship funding but if on the off-chance I get accepted to those schools, I wouldn't be able to go anyway for lack of money.

I think the only reason I still want to apply is to prove something to myself, like okay, I am still in this game if I got an acceptance from the school. It may be a waste of time and money for me, though.

Also, how likely is it that a school might suddenly and magically have funding later on in the year? Do budgets change that drastically? Maybe the professors say that they couldn't fund me now but who knows how things will look in April 2013?

I'm really torn here.

[kaykaykay]

what makes you think you will not get into similar level programs elsewhere? Are you even trying to apply to another state? Funding is a problem in some CA public schools, especially for international students. You have only one way to know where there is no money: listen to what profs/ administrators have to say. If they say that there is no money probably there isn't.There is only one way there can be magically money: if for some reason waaaaay fewer students accepted the offer they made for them(and this does not apply if the TA ship does not cover tuition remission as in some schools). But some schools will offer very few spots for international students if at all to avoid this problem altogether.

Edited August 14, 2012 by kaykaykay

[1Q84]

Yeah, unfortunately this is motivated geographically by being closer to my partner. That may cause some people to look down on me from an academic standpoint, but that's just how the cards fell for me.

One of the public schools that has funding for international students is interesting because the results of the tuition waiver will only be made known after one accepts the offer of admission. That seems a little unfair, doesn't it? How can one accept an offer without being sure of funding?

Edited August 14, 2012 by 1Q84

[kaykaykay]

well, I am not sure we are talking about the same thing. I know that at some schools as a principle they do not waive nonresident tuition for TAs. So there is nothing that the department can do for you because you cannot become a resident. In some schools tuition waiver comes with the TA ship. In this case if there is a chance that the school will give you a job if a big IF there are not enough people who accepted their offer. In any case usually administrators and profs know where the school stands. You can ask for statistics from previous years (whether they have international students) and you can try to shoot the international students(if any) an email to ask how do they finance themselves. (things are changing though be aware. a few years back non funded students could still get TAships). If there are no international students at all I would not be hopeful.

p.s. please forgive me if we are talking about the same thing. I have never heard a school which does not announce whether TAs get tuition waivers or not, but that is maybe just me. By the way although it is not very nice you can withdraw for financial reasons even if you accepted an offer , as circumstances sometimes unfortunately change.

Edited August 15, 2012 by kaykaykay

[1Q84]

Apologies, I wasn't being clear. What I mean is this school has a specific international tuition waiver program and the grad director said he would support me for it after I'm accepted and the grad secretary said I wouldn't find out if I received it until after I accepted the admissions offer. That seems a little off right?

Oh really? I didn't know you could withdraw. I guess if you can't fulfill the SEVIS form, then that's an automatic rejection anyway. I'm not sure if that would look good on my record though.... if there's a record of that kind of thing?