Officially Unemployed and Poor (Sorta)

Well it was certainly a wake-up call. The very first day of my unemployment, my bank account went negative. Ouch. It was really just an accounting error (I forgot about a payment I'd set up), but it really hit home the fact that I no longer have a salary. I know I will have loans, but I don't actually have any of that money yet, and I won't for several weeks. So now that I actually have some time to enjoy myself, my funds to do so are quite limited!

And as I've mentioned, we are contemplating borrowing less than Wharton's budget for first-years since my husband's salary will likely cover a lot of the room and board expenses. It's really hard to decide how much to borrow. I want to take advantage of these two years as much as possible, and there are a lot of expenses associated with that (i.e. social activities, travel, club membership, business wardrobe, etc). But at the same time, I don't want to live too far beyond our means, because that will just cost us more in interest in the long run. My husband is lucky enough to have never been in any kind of debt besides our mortgage, so all of these dollar signs associated with my education are pretty scary. We both know it will pay off in the long run, but it's not like I'm planning to go into investment banking or consulting so my pay off period is going to be longer than many of my classmates. I guess we both just need to get over that now. This is about my education, not everyone else's. Right ...

I keep thinking back to a mantra that was heard over and over from the students that hosted Welcome Weekend. "It all works out in the end." They said this so often, about so many subjects, including class waivers, tuition, technology, learning teams, academics, feeling overwhelmed, etc, that it started to become funny. But they all said it really is true. So I will go with it. It will all work out in the end ....

Time for Financial Aid Decisions

I finally received information from Penn on how to apply for loans. The Stafford loan application is extremely easy. Just pick a lender and send the info to Penn and they take care of the application. According to many news sources, there are a lot of lenders dropping out of the student loan business. But Penn still had more than enough options, with what I thought were decent opportunities to lower costs through interest rate reductions and other benefits as rewards for signing up for auto-pay, paying on time, etc. One lender definitely came out on top in terms of the benefits, so that's what I went with.

I am lucky to A) have some money put away and B) a spouse that will be working full time while I'm in school. Therefore, I have some decisions to make about how much money I really need to borrow and at from what sources. The Stafford loan is a no-brainer, but I am not sure if I will take a Grad PLUS loan or an alternative loan. Grad PLUS has a rate of 8.5%, which right now is really high. Alternative loans have lower rates (assuming you qualify), but they are variable. You can find many predictions for what rates are going to do in the future, but who the heck really knows. Another option we're considering is a home equity loan or line of credit. We've got a little bit of equity in our home and the rates might be pretty good, especially if we can get fixed rates. We'd have to make payments during school though, which is a consideration.

Sooo, Hubby and I have a lot of work ahead of us to figure out our budget, how much money we really need to borrow, and what type of loan. Lots of fun on a hot day.

Hope all readers on the East Coast are finding ways to keep cool!

A Note on Scholarships

I got a few questions in the comments so I wanted to just address them quickly.

Unfortunately, I didn't really save the info for any scholarships I found that I didn't qualify for. Sorry! But, to answer another question, I didn't have any inside info on places to look. I really just googled as many phrases as I could think of, like "scholarships for MBA," "MBA scholarships for women," "grad school fellowships," etc, etc etc. So if there is something out there for you, I don't think you should have a problem finding it either through a) googling b) using the information your schools send you and c) googling some more! Definitely go through the hassle of registering for the websites that allow you to search. I think they all have a somewhat different selection of scholarships in their databases.

Good luck!

Scholarship Search - Disappointing!

Other than my grant from Wharton, I have been completely unsuccessful in my scholarship search. You would think that there might be a lot of money out there for women pursuing an MBA, but I have not found anything to even apply to. Yes, there is the Forte Foundation fellowship, but your school nominates (or doesn't, in my case) you for that. There were a few others that I saw which had deadlines in December. Who knew you had to be applying for scholarships before you even knew if you got in (2008 applicants, take note!!).

It seems like there is a lot of money out there if you have critical financial need and/or are a minority demographic or international student, which should be good news for many of you. Just doesn't seem like there is much out there for my particular profile. Oh well. I wanted to have a smaller debt load, but I can handle it. Maybe in Year 2 I will find something!

P.S. If anyone knows of any scholarships I may have overlooked, please drop me a line!

I'm on a Roll!

I submitted the FAFSA last night. It was so easy compared to Need Access! I also submitted the matriculation form. All I have to do now is send in the deposit check, the first of many checks I will be writing to Wharton. Then it's another waiting game to get my letter from the Fellowship Committee.

Later I'll have to go through the whole loan application thing, but I don't want to think about that right now!

Dear Wharton, Please Please Please May I Have Some Financial Aid?

I finally faxed my resume and fellowship essay to the Financial Aid Office. I don't know why, but I had so much writer's block for the essay. Once I got going I pounded it out within a day, edited the next day, and then sent it off. I wish I had gotten the inspiration to do that months ago! Hopefully it's not too late to get some money (if they deem me worthy). It shouldn't be since R2 isn't finished yet. But less than half of the class gets something so I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

In case anyone did not attend Wharton Winter Welcome and is wondering, the amount for the financial need grant is less than the range of amounts for fellowships. So if you feel like you have true financial need, you might still want to make a case for merit in your essay. I believe they consider you for fellowships first, and then grants if you don't get a fellowship. You can't get both.

Also, you can use estimates for the 2007 financial numbers required in the Need Access form if you haven't done your taxes yet. If the numbers change I think you just need to tell the financial aid office. It's better to get the forms in rather than wait until you are absolutely sure about the numbers.

Another Check Mark Complete!

I finally finished the financial aid paperwork for Wharton last night. The form is used for both determining financial need for grants and for inputs to fellowship decisions. I am still reeling from the amount of information they asked for. It is far more than the FAFSA! I spent a lot of time adding up medical expenses for my husband and me for 2007 and then estimating for 2008. You have to estimate nearly all your financial numbers for 2008 which wasn't easy. I also had to call my mom and see if she remembered how much I received in scholarships for undergrad (11 years ago!) Somehow, she remembered. I certainly didn't. I'm surprised they didn't ask what I am planning to name my future children, when I expect them to be born, and how much I expect them to cost between birth and college.
I know I really shouldn't be complaining, because this part of the process is easy compared to the applications. And it's good that they are very thorough with this process to ensure that it's fair. I just didn't anticipate that it would require so much legwork to complete.
Now, time to write the essay! (No, I haven't started it yet).

Financial Aid

We went to our tax accountant on Friday to get an estimate on our 2007 taxes so that I can use it for financial aid paperwork. Even though I consider myself relatively good with numbers, I always come away from meetings with the accountant feeling glad that we pay someone to do this. I've used Turbotax and such before, but it feels like our taxes get more complicated each year, and our accountant just flat-out knows what she's doing.
Speaking of complicated, the financial aid process is confusing and a lot of work! US citizens have to do a federal form and a school form, plus Wharton asks for a 500 word essay:

Describe what you see as the value of fellowships/scholarships to students. [Fellowships and scholarships are valuable to students because they give them money. Money is good. ] Why should you receive one? [You mean getting in isn't enough of a feat? Ok then, I should get one because I'm awesome and I need money! My husband is ready to have us eating ramen noodles in a studio apartment with all this debt looming. Please give me some cash!!] What impact will it have on you and/or your Wharton experience? [Any amount that I can reduce my debt burden will afford me more opportunity to choose the job that I really want, not the job that will help me pay back my loans the fastest. Hmm, I think that was too honest - they want me to get a higher salary don't they? Ok, how about this: any amount that I can reduce my debt burden will afford me more opportunity to give back to the Wharton School of Business so that future MBA students will be able to enjoy the same or better opportunities as me. Beautiful!]

Seriously though, I thought I was done with essays! And this one is weird. I'm not really sure how to approach it other than stating the obvious (as above). If anyone has any advice, please comment.