The Application Process

Top Schools Remain Committed to Helping International MBA Applicants Find Student Loans

In a post earlier this month, Clear Admit reported that Citibank has cancelled its CitiAssist student loan program with several top business schools as a result of the current economic crisis and shrinking credit markets, creating confusion and uncertainty for many international students about how to fund an MBA.

So far, loans for domestic students pursuing an MBA program do not seem to have been impacted, but the cancellation of the CitiAssist program brought to an abrupt end loan programs for international students that don’t require a co-signer. Several schools have responded with assurances that they are focused on the problem and committed to providing access to financial aid to all students regardless of citizenship.

In a post yesterday on her newly launched blog, Rose Martinelli, director of admissions and financial aid at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, stressed that she and her team are committed to finding new loan sources for the upcoming year.

In fact, Chicago GSB went through this exact exercise not so many months ago. The school’s previous loan provider cancelled its program for international students in July, and Martinelli’s office scrambled to find a replacement program – with Citibank. Fortunately for this year’s entering class, loans for the current year were locked in and will be unaffected by the more recent CitiAssist cancellation.

But now Chicago GSB must again find a replacement loan program. “We were all taken by surprise and are actively engaged at the highest levels in the school/university in identifying potential new loan sources for the upcoming year,” Martinelli wrote.

In the meantime, she encouraged international students to look at the various financing opportunities available in their home countries. “Rates and terms will vary by location, but it makes sense for you to have this information available so that you can evaluate the terms schools are able to provide for similar loan types when that information becomes available,” she wrote.

Acknowledging how uncomfortable the uncertainty must feel, Martinelli encouraged prospective applicants to remain positive and focus on the fact that an MBA is a long-term investment that will pay dividends over a lifetime regardless of market cycles.

San Francisco Bay–area schools, too, recently also offered reassurance to prospective international students as well as some practical advice. A post last week on the Stanford MBA Admissions Blog featured the following quote from Jack Edwards, director of financial aid:

“International students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business will not be impacted by Citibank’s decision. The GSB Financial Aid Office has a close working relationship with Stanford Federal Credit Union and for the past two years we have made arrangements exclusively through SFCU to provide international students at Stanford the ability to take out private loans without a U.S. co-signer.” Edwards also confirmed that Citibank’s loan program for domestic borrowers had not been affected.

At the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, meanwhile, Director of Admissions Peter Johnson confirmed Citibank’s discontinuation of international student loans without a co-signer. “I’m guessing that no-co-signer loans will be hard to find until the financial services mess is sorted out,” he wrote in an email.

Johnson encouraged prospect Haas applicants to explore alternative financial assistance available through the school. “We provide $3.2 million dollars in financial assistance, including merit scholarships providing up to full tuition and fees for both years; fellowships for students pursuing careers in financial services, and smaller programs for specific discipline areas,” he wrote.

For links and the original post of this story:
https://blog.clearadmit.com/2008/10/top- ... ent-loans/