Should I acknowledge the acceptance of a school I'll likely go to if I'm waiting to hear form other schools/about funding?

[HiFiWiFi]

I'm looking at terminal Masters programs, and there is no POI in this case. The letter of acceptance came from the dean of the graduate school itself. There is a student services manager I have had minimal contact with.  I received the acceptance email last week. It says funding information, if any is available, will follow though gives no indication of when. They do specifically state on the admitted students page that there is no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15, but what about admission in general? I have no indication of if I need to respond, if I should respond, etc.?

(I will only be able to afford this school if I am offered a TA-ship, otherwise I will go to my safety school [poor fit, but cheap] purely for financial reasons, but I can't make that choice for quite some time, so I have no "decision" to give either way at this point, but I don't want them to think I'm not interested! Also, would it be at all helpful or would it be poor form to reach out and discuss the situation regarding needing a TAship to make it work, given only 2-3 students in the cohort will be offered an assistantship and we are all automatically considered?)

Edited February 20, 2017 by HiFiWiFi

[AP]

It is clear that you'd prefer to go to this school rather than the other one, of finances didn't matter. If you don't have any information at this time regarding funding, I would wait until you do, and in the meantime you are waiting on the other school. When you have the information, then you can ask precise questions and negotiate a TAship. You could also contact the DGS thanking for the offer, reiterating your interest in the program, and stating you are waiting on other offers to make a decision. 

[BTW congrats on your offer!]

[TakeruK]

If you are not clear about the decision deadline for this (for now) unfunded offer, it would be a good idea to email the person that sent you the offer letter to ask if there is a decision deadline. For unfunded programs, it might be as late the registration deadline for the next school year (maybe in the summer). It's not necessary but personally, I would do this check because it would be unfortunate if the deadline was something early like March 15 but you don't find out about funding until April 15 so when you try to accept later on, it's too late! If you ask about a deadline and learn that it's early, then you can ask for an extension closer to the deadline if you still have not yet learned about funding.

Even if the unfunded offer deadline was also April 15, it's worth asking since the funded deadlines being on April 15 means that some students may decline a funded offer on the 15th and it might be the 16th or 17th before they make you a funded offer. I would always encourage clear lines of communication about deadlines and your decision making process.

It's also worth checking in with your safety school. When is that decision deadline? You want to ensure that you do not have to accept that school's offer until you know for sure that you won't be getting a funded offer from your top choice. This might mean having to ask the safety school for an extension if their deadline is prior to April 15 and you might not hear about funding until after April 15. (But cross that bridge when you come to it).