Can I waive a financed offer after april 15th and accept an unfinanced one?

[drinkingtoomuchwater]

For example, there are two MASTER programs.

 

School A -- Offer With Financial aid

School B -- Waitlisted, not likely to have any financial aid

 

Both are members of the 4.15 agreement.

 

Can I accept the offer by school A, and after Apr. 15th, when School B gives me a offer without financial aid, can I abandon school A and choose school B?

Edited April 7, 2014 by drinkingtoomuchwater

[TheGirlWhoLived]

I would search for this topic. A lot of people have posted about it. You can but there is an argument over whether this is good form. If you take back your decision after April 15th, the school will most likely lose the funding so someone else will get screwed out of it. Some people say this isn't your responsibility. You can decide. You might not make the school/department very happy though. 

[danieleWrites]

It's unlikely that the school will lose the funding and cannot offer it to others. They have already had that funding allocated to the department, who in turn has already allocated that funding to certain number of incoming graduate students. When someone turns it down, they offer it to a wait-listed person. There are likely some schools that don't do that, but bureaucracy is bureaucracy. Accepting an offer isn't the same as being registered.

 

Personally, I think it's stupid to pay for grad school if you absolutely don't have to. I'm sure there is something about University B that makes it much better for you, scholastically, but keep in mind that grad school is about you learning to be an independent scholar, not about you acquiring new knowledge (though both are important). That old, and very true, saying "you get out of it what you get into it" goes more so for grad school. Your thesis is what it's all about. A student with an exemplary thesis from Podunk U will go further than a student with a meh thesis from Super Prestigious U. In general. Some degrees are different! In general, that's when the job is almost entirely about who you know, now what you know. If you want to captain industry, your MBA from an Ivy will parley into a better position than an MBA from nowheresville. Prestige is important (as are good looks and money), but it isn't as important as important as US News college rankings would have you believe.

 

But, then it comes down to what is best for you, not what we think. Before you choose to foot the bill for at least the first year, check these calculators out: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/ The student loan adviser calculators will be particularly helpful in your cost-benefit analysis. When running the numbers, keep in mind that the university's financial aid department will decide how much to offer you in student loans and grants that you can get from FAFSA. You may not get enough in student loans to cover tuition, let alone fees, books, and living expenses. It doesn't always happen, but it does happen often enough to make it a consideration. University B's financial aid webpage should have either a calculator or some way for you to get a strong estimate as to how much your semester will cost you, tuition, books, fees, living expenses, so you can make a good choice for yourself. Don't forget to check into scholarships, fellowships, and grant opportunities (not FAFSA grants, either) that might be available to you. If you have to depend on a scholarship to pay, that's kind of like depending on the lottery to be your retirement plan.

Edited April 7, 2014 by danieleWrites

[anthropologygeek]

The school can legally make you pay the first year of tuition if you do this. It's unlikely but there would be nothing you could do. Also, do you really want this black mark on you to begin your career. You never know what doing this could cost you in the future

[drinkingtoomuchwater]

It's unlikely that the school will lose the funding and cannot offer it to others. They have already had that funding allocated to the department, who in turn has already allocated that funding to certain number of incoming graduate students. When someone turns it down, they offer it to a wait-listed person. There are likely some schools that don't do that, but bureaucracy is bureaucracy. Accepting an offer isn't the same as being registered.

 

Personally, I think it's stupid to pay for grad school if you absolutely don't have to. I'm sure there is something about University B that makes it much better for you, scholastically, but keep in mind that grad school is about you learning to be an independent scholar, not about you acquiring new knowledge (though both are important). That old, and very true, saying "you get out of it what you get into it" goes more so for grad school. Your thesis is what it's all about. A student with an exemplary thesis from Podunk U will go further than a student with a meh thesis from Super Prestigious U. In general. Some degrees are different! In general, that's when the job is almost entirely about who you know, now what you know. If you want to captain industry, your MBA from an Ivy will parley into a better position than an MBA from nowheresville. Prestige is important (as are good looks and money), but it isn't as important as important as US News college rankings would have you believe.

 

But, then it comes down to what is best for you, not what we think. Before you choose to foot the bill for at least the first year, check these calculators out: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/ The student loan adviser calculators will be particularly helpful in your cost-benefit analysis. When running the numbers, keep in mind that the university's financial aid department will decide how much to offer you in student loans and grants that you can get from FAFSA. You may not get enough in student loans to cover tuition, let alone fees, books, and living expenses. It doesn't always happen, but it does happen often enough to make it a consideration. University B's financial aid webpage should have either a calculator or some way for you to get a strong estimate as to how much your semester will cost you, tuition, books, fees, living expenses, so you can make a good choice for yourself. Don't forget to check into scholarships, fellowships, and grant opportunities (not FAFSA grants, either) that might be available to you. If you have to depend on a scholarship to pay, that's kind of like depending on the lottery to be your retirement plan

Thanks, man, that's really helpful. Only the university A didn't offer me much financial aid, I mean, it's like about $8000 per year. The university that waitlisted me may cost me less even without the financial aid. But thanks a lot anyway.

[drinkingtoomuchwater]

The school can legally make you pay the first year of tuition if you do this. It's unlikely but there would be nothing you could do. Also, do you really want this black mark on you to begin your career. You never know what doing this could cost you in the future

Really? Even if I change my mind in like mid May? but you're right about the black mark thing. I guess I shouldn't risk my career on this.

[Vene]

Really? Even if I change my mind in like mid May? but you're right about the black mark thing. I guess I shouldn't risk my career on this.

You basically sign a contract.

[TakeruK]

The school can legally make you pay the first year of tuition if you do this. It's unlikely but there would be nothing you could do. Also, do you really want this black mark on you to begin your career. You never know what doing this could cost you in the future

 

This is not the case at every school, just saying! I know many people who drop out of grad school in the middle of the school year, and you might be on the hook for tuition through the remainder of that quarter/semester, but usually not for the rest of the year. I would find it very strange if you were liable for tuition this far before the semester started (which is why you usually have to pay a registration deposit at this time).

[juilletmercredi]

Most schools don't actually make you sign a contract.  I would definitely check this because it's different from school to school, and I would imagine that at most schools you are actually not legally liable for the first years' tuition.

 

But with that said, I agree that I wouldn't pay for grad school if I didn't have to.  Still, yes, it is possible for you to do that.  There's generally nothing legally binding you to the school you accepted; it's just seen as a relatively unethical thing to do.