Cambridge MPhil, funding for international student

[bluewhale]

Hello!

I've been accepted for a humanities MPhil at Cambridge, but "the Faculty was not able to nominate [me] for Cambridge scholarship funding." I'm unclear if this means that I'm not eligible for all of the Graduate Competition / Cambridge Trust funding (I checked the box on my app) or just my department's funding. I've been rejected from the only separate scholarship I applied to, the Gates Cambridge, and I was also recently rejected from both colleges I applied to.

I'd really appreciate hearing about the funding experiences of other American MPhil students at Cambridge; at the moment I'm feeling quite at a lost as to where to look for funding now. My dept has been unhelpful so far (although maybe I just haven't found the right person yet), and I've gotten no suggestions except the general cambridge/funding link. Where should I look next? All I can think of is to sit on my hands until I've been placed in a college, and then look at their options. Are there any other funding bodies I can look into at this time? 

Thank you for any help / advice!

[Plane_Jane]

Firstly, a big "Congratulations!" on your acceptance.

Did you complete a FAFSA yet?

I am an American who did a social sciences MPhil at Cambridge, self-funded entirely through US Federal student loans. These loans covered tuition and fees as well as housing and food, with a sufficient amount remaining in the loan "over-payment cash-out" to cover the costs of my gown, rowing, pub crawls, and etc. 

Availability of college funding varies greatly. I would imagine that even if you're accepted into one of the wealthier colleges, and you're fortunate enough to receive funding from them, you'll probably still need to consider other sources of financial aid to cover the MPhil expenses. 

I have no regrets whatsoever about going into debt for that MPhil. I'll be paying for it for the next 25 years, and honestly, even if I had to pay double the cost of my student loan bill for that experience, I wouldn't bat an eye. My time at Cambridge was one of the best years of my life and it has led to so many incredible things in the years that followed. 

Of course, not everyone is willing to take on additional student loans debt for an MPhil and not everyone goes to Cambridge and has the time of their life there, but, if I were you... it would be a chance I'd want to take!

Feel free to ask if you have any other questions. 

Good luck!