funding offer delay-- is this normal?

[_sawyer_]

Question for all you wise people:

I received an offer of admission from a school on Feb 16th that did not mention funding. I emailed the program coordinator to ask about funding and she said that funding decisions were still being made and that I could expect to hear from them about what kind of funding the could offer me in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime I have heard from all my other schools, and this school is in my top 2. 

Should I take this to mean that they are not offering me funding? should I bother them again? I want to be able to make my decision and I need this information in order to do so. This is from a huge school so maybe there are administrative delays and I should just be patient? thoughts?

 

Edited March 10, 2017 by _sawyer_

[TakeruK]

Sometimes it can take awhile to get funding offers together. There are often lots of moving parts behind the scenes. For example, maybe a prof was thinking they would have money for X students, but now one of their students had a set back and might have to stick around an extra year, so they need to see how that situation resolves before they can offer you funding. So I wouldn't think this means they will not offer funding, since it could be a situation out of your control / has nothing to do with you.

I know you want to get on with your life and make a decision. Your signature says you have 3 offers, I am guessing two with funding and one still pending. If you already know which of the two funded offers you prefer, you can at least decline the other one. Then you just have to wait to see if the delayed school makes you an offer that causes you to choose it over the other funded offer. I know it sucks to not make a decision right now, but you can decline the other school and know that you will be ready to decide almost as soon as you get that last piece of info!

As for being patient vs. asking for updates....I would say at this point, you should ask for an update every 2 weeks. 

[_sawyer_]

@TakeruK Thanks for the reply. This all makes sense. I just declined offer #3, so good to get that out of the way. I am going to wait a few more days then ask for an update, I think that I have waited long enough that it won't seem like I'm pestering them. Holding onto hope that the extra time means they have been putting together a great package for me LOL!