Let's talk about $scholarship/fellowship/assistantship$

[LYJ]

Congrats on your admissions!

 

I applied to MPP without any work experience.  ..but luckily I got accepted to USC(funding to be informed), U of Minnesota Humphrey(funding to be informed), Duke Sanford 16K+4Kassistantship/yr, Cornell CIPA 10K/yr

 

The thought of massive debt is simply dreadful to me... and because of my no work experience, I'm less hopeful about the $$Full Funding$$ scenario..

 

 

1. If any of u guys got a full tuition coverage(or $ similar to full coverage, may I ask how many years of work experience you had?

 

 

I'm now thinking about working for 1,2 years bf reapplying because of the amount of debt.. 

 

2. Do you think working a few more yrs would substantially increase the chance of me getting full funding?

 

 

Any word of advice, wisdom, or comments on the question above would mean a great deal to me.

 

 

Thanks!

[WhatAmIDoingNow]

The only full funding I heard of for MPP and MPA were through government fellowships that you have to apply for, not through the programs themselves. Ask the schools if they have such fellowships.

Edited February 28, 2015 by WhatAmIDoingNow

[ajak568]

I can't claim to have a full ride anywhere, but I did get $37.5k + $4k assistantship offer from Duke, which would cover all of my tuition costs. (Of course, I would still have to fund housing, books, etc. if I go with this offer.) I am also awaiting offers from other schools and hoping to be able to negotiate this number.

 

In addition, I'm also interviewing for an outside fellowship that would likely get me a full ride if I were to recieve it.

 

Again, These 'Plan Bs' are all just speculative at this point--I'm still fishing around for my best option in order to fund grad school--but it does seem like I'm getting a few options and a little wiggle room with respect to funding with only 2 years of relevant experience (Peace Corps), for what it's worth.

 

That's just my two cents, so take it with a grain of salt, but I hope that helps. I'd highly recommend working for a couple of years!

 

Aja

[chocolatecheesecake]

To concur with Aja, I highly recommend negotiating here. It is always useful and never hurts to ask, as long as you do it politely and nicely. I received a full-tuition scholarship from USC, and used that as a reason to ask Duke for $10K more a year. They asked me to forward proof that I'd received that offer from USC, and then a day or two before the deadline to accept, came back with $5K more a year. Hopefully you will receive good financial offers from schools that aren't your top choice that you can then leverage for more from the one you do want to go to.

[LYJ]

The only full funding I heard of for MPP and MPA were through government fellowships that you have to apply for, not through the programs themselves. Ask the schools if they have such fellowships.

 

If you don't mind me asking, do you refer gov fellowship as the Federal Loan Repayment plan?

 

or is there a separate fellowship that can be done simultaneously with MPP/MPA program?

 

Thank you!

[LYJ]

To concur with Aja, I highly recommend negotiating here. It is always useful and never hurts to ask, as long as you do it politely and nicely. I received a full-tuition scholarship from USC, and used that as a reason to ask Duke for $10K more a year. They asked me to forward proof that I'd received that offer from USC, and then a day or two before the deadline to accept, came back with $5K more a year. Hopefully you will receive good financial offers from schools that aren't your top choice that you can then leverage for more from the one you do want to go to.

 

Wow, thank you. 

I was thinking about negotiating, but wasn't sure how to do it.

Now I have a little bit more sense of how to do it. 

[WhatAmIDoingNow]

If you don't mind me asking, do you refer gov fellowship as the Federal Loan Repayment plan?

 

or is there a separate fellowship that can be done simultaneously with MPP/MPA program?

 

Thank you!

 

Cities and counties will have management fellowships.  They are similar to internships, but more competitive and more funding. If you are intersted in going into local government, it is a great way to get funded. 

Edited March 2, 2015 by WhatAmIDoingNow

[pavlik]

A 1000x yes, negotiate or ask if that's the final offer. I doubled an offer from a school by simply telling them that I couldn't consider them financially, even with the generous offer they had extended.

 

Most schools have some sort of fellowship or scholarship that gives a full ride, or at least close to it. There are several students in my program (McCourt) that are fresh out of undergrad. There are five (I think) "McCourt Fellows" who have a full ride plus a stipend. None of the McCourt fellows are also immediately from undergrad. So keep that in mind. I'm a big advocate of working for a bit anyway, even if it's not 100% relevant to what you think you want to do long-term, because a year out of the classroom, whether it's volunteering, traveling, interning, or working is incredibly valuable. You may decide that grad school isn't something you want to do, or that you want to do a separate program, or something else entirely. But ultimately, the decision is yours.

[brmoran]

Hey Pavlik--thanks for your continued insight!

 

Did Georgetown match an offer you had elsewhere, or did they actually exceed your other offers? Would definitely like to get as much funding as possible before committing anywhere!

[pavlik]

Hey Pavlik--thanks for your continued insight!

 

Did Georgetown match an offer you had elsewhere, or did they actually exceed your other offers? Would definitely like to get as much funding as possible before committing anywhere!

I don't think I actually ever told them what I had from other schools, but they asked (and I gave them) what sort of scholarship from them would make them competitive against the other schools I was considering (it was LBJ and Ford, LBJ didn't give anything but was cheap, Ford gave a sizable but not super generous scholarship). I told them that I was seeking to minimize total borrowing and planned on working my way through school, so I wanted to keep total tuition expenses below a certain amount. They matched that amount.

 

Depending on the school and how you initiate the conversation though, they may want to know what other offers you have. I tried negotiating with the other schools with more limited success. Even with the money, I still would have picked LBJ or Ford (probably LBJ) over Georgetown had I not had a very positive experience at the open house for admitted students I went to in April. So I wouldn't bother negotiating with a school you're not 100% serious about attending. Hope that helps!

[economixed_policy]

For the OP I have 6 years of work experience and a masters in economics. I've been awarded a full tuition scholarship at Chicago Harris. Waiting for others. I think work experience will definitely go a long way towards securing free ride offers. That's my two cents.

[NotLostWanderer]

Three questions here:

 

1. I got a full-ride (as a research assistant) + health insurance and a stipend at an unranked in-state institution. Is there any chance I could use this to negotiate my already pretty high offer at GWU's Elliott School? The monetary value GWU is offering me actually totals more than the other school's package, but I would still have to pay out of pocket. I am even less convinced this could work because technically I would be working at the other school to earn that money, whereas GWU is a scholarship. I do plan to get a part-time job if I take the GWU offer, but this question is strictly about negotiating. 

 

2. If I somehow change my mind and want to attend the in-state school, could I use GWU's total monetary value to negotiate the in-state offer?

 

3. I got into Georgetown Walsh School without any funding. Is there any chance I could use my GWU offer to obtain similar funding? The letter made it sound pretty clear that I wouldn't get any funding the first year.

 

 

edit: To answer the OP's questions,

I had one year of work experience, plus internships throughout the summers of undergrad.

I think the best way to ensure funding is to apply to programs that fit your interests exactly.

I did not apply for MPP programs, however.

Edited March 28, 2015 by NotLostWanderer

[kaseyleigh]

I got two essentially equal funding offers. I would just love to negotiate a higher fellowship, but it seems like I won't really be able to, since I can't leverage anything (I can't really say the other school gave me a higher fellowship, because it's not true). Does that seem right? It seems like I'm pretty stuck with what I have.

[chocolatecheesecake]

Just one thought: it never hurts to ask, even if you don't have any leverage. I would only ask at the school that you are most serious about attending, however, and do it in good faith. The worst thing they could do is say no, but it's a chance for you to show that you are really interested in the institution and might attend if given more of an incentive. 

[CDNTrish]

I got two essentially equal funding offers. I would just love to negotiate a higher fellowship, but it seems like I won't really be able to, since I can't leverage anything (I can't really say the other school gave me a higher fellowship, because it's not true). Does that seem right? It seems like I'm pretty stuck with what I have.

 

I didn't have any leverage (in terms of funding from other schools) asked, and doubled my offer. It never hurts!

 

As for the OP, I had 2 years of full-time work experience in an international nonprofit + a summer internship in an embassy at the time of application. I think it definitely helped in terms of securing funding, mainly because most of my funding is coming in the form of assistanceship, which strongly looks at work experience.

 

As a whole, my work helped my figure precisely why I wanted to go back to grad school and wanted I wanted to take, making my personal statements much stronger.

 

ETA: I got an assistantship that will cover 75% of tuition + stipend, if that helps any.

Edited March 28, 2015 by CDNTrish