Second Year financing at Columbia SIPA

[gauravprad]

Hi,

I will be starting 2nd year of MPA at Columbia SIPA. I'm an international student. Though I have a partial scholarship from SIPA and taken a loan for my studies, the living and course have been so expensive that I'll run out of money to finance my last semester. I have already reached out to Prodigy Finance and MPOWER for additional loan, but they have declined my application. Since I'm an international student and have no one in the US who could be a cosigner for US bank loan, that is not an option. Plus, my family can't support my studies since it's not affordable. Are there any other options I could look at? Urgent help needed here, please.

Thanks in advance.

[chocolatecheesecake]

@gauravprad, your financial aid office at SIPA is in the best position to help you. They'll know your situation better, and have some suggestions about how to defray your costs (especially living expenses), and potentially be in a good position to find more work-study jobs, something to earn money during the year, etc. I would definitely get their advice, and follow up on every possible lead they can find before you go to any other outside sources. Another option is to do recruiting, and try to land a very lucrative job with consulting firms or other companies sometime this fall. It probably is much harder for international students, but could still happen. If you accept an offer with a position early on in the year, it will make it easy to pay back any loans with high interest that you may have to take out to make ends meet. Good luck!