Acceptance and Funding...Help!!

[CagedBird]

Hey guys! I was accepted into a doctorate program, my top choice. I was delighted about the offer. I was given the usual deadline of April 15th to decide if I want to attend or not. However, this program stated that if I was to accept their offer sooner, I would be considered for assistantships for the coming fall semester. Other than that, there is no funding available. I'm hesitate about accepting without concrete funding information. This school is pretty prestigious and also very expensive to attend. Should I go ahead, fingers crossed, and accept by the deadline indicated in order to considered for assistantships for the first year? Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!

[VirginianFeminist]

Personally, I would be hesitant to accept their offer even if they guaranteed me an assistantship for the first year. What happens for the next few years? If they're not willing to offer funding for the duration of your program, you shouldn't accept (unless you are comfortable taking on a substantial amount of debt / have other funding opportunities).

[CagedBird]

Almost all of the programs I looked at for my field of study didn't gurantee funding...They told me about 65% of the cohort are funded, or are offered jobs through some certification programs that are offered on the side during the duration of the program. I really want to accept this offer, since the program is exactly what I want. The funding part just scares me a lot lol.