Financial aid: is this normal?

[cheree cheree]

I've received a few offers of admission to great clinical psychology doctoral programs in NYC and surrounding areas. However, upon acceptance at my top choice school, I was told that financial aid offers couldn't be made at this time (around March 9). The letter says as soon as they have approval for the kind and amount of support they can offer, they will let me know, and they expect this to be "well before" my decision notification deadline. Is this type of delay normal or a bad sign?

They typically offer 50% tuition remission for the first year, but now I'm wondering if this year's offers could be far less than that, if not 0. Is anyone else in the same boat? Is my anxiety justified?

Thanks for any insights you can provide!!

[BRKS]

Getting a financial offer well after admission is fairly common, in my experience. Some schools will let you know right away, others take a few weeks, and some take months. But they should all let you know before the deadline (April 15). For example, four schools gave me financial information with the admission offer, one took about month after admitting me, another took two months, and I still haven't heard back from one more.

So don't worry about it!

[OptimiscallyAnxious]

I agree with @BRKS,my labmate received an informal acceptance for one program in early February, just last week she received her formal acceptance but is still waiting for her funding information. They let her know that she should receive it in a few weeks. And one of the schools I was accepted to told me at the time of my acceptance (Feb. 14) that they wouldn't be able to give final funding details until their final budget was approved.