Question about Emory funding

[chelsc2012]

I've been accepted to Candler's School of Theology for my MDiv. Stressful thing is, I was offered half-tuition, leaving me with $10,000 I have to come up with per year. As a nondemonimational  Christian, ministry scholarships are hard to come by. I really, really don't want to take out so much in loans and be stuck with debt for the rest of my life. I'm really torn and upset because this was the only graduate school I applied to (I didn't want to leave out of state and the decision to apply to seminary wasn't until the end of my first semester as a senior) I guess I just don't know what to do. I would really, really love to go and I have absolutely fell in love with the staff and school when I visited. Anyone know of any scholarships that I could qualify for (as a nondenominational Christian.) I put this in the decisions post because really, would it be worth it to accept the grant and pull out loans? If anyone knows about Emory, will I be able to negotiate with financial aid for more money? If worse comes to worst, I'm going to have to decline the grant and do a gap year, which I do not want to do. I have to find what I should do all in three weeks

Edited March 8, 2016 by chelsc2012

[Kuriakos]

Have you tried emailing someone at Candler to discuss your situation? They may give you some options, and I've even heard of people having funding increased simply because they laid out their financial inability to attend a seminary without it. 

[chelsc2012]

Thanks, I will do that. I called as soon as I found out about the scholarship and to make sure it was 10k a year and not 10k a semester. She said I could look at outside scholarships but considering I only have three weeks to decline or accept the offer, it feels like a stab in the dark and hoping for the best. I think I'll try calling again and discussing my options and maybe whether they could extend the time that I need to decline or accept.

[dramos2016]

Did you end up getting more funding?