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FEBRUARY 27, 2001 B-SCHOOL Q&A: FINANCIAL AID Meet UC Berkeley's Financial Aid Director A conversation with Debi Fidler, director of financial aid at Berkeley's Haas School of Business
Q: Debi, tuition for the 2000-01 school year was $10,458 for California residents and $20,702 for non-residents. On top of those figures, how much should a prospective MBA budget for living expenses? A: The official number, less fees, is $17,052 for rent, utilities, food, transportation, books and supplies, etc. [Which brings total estimated costs without fees to $27,510 for in-state students and $37,754 for out-of-state students.] Q: What are the scholarship opportunities available at Haas to help defray the cost of such a big investment? A: All students, international as well as domestic, are eligible to receive merit scholarships. There's no separate application required. We look at the strength of the materials in the admissions application [against] the rest of the pool. The Haas School offered $1.135 million in merit scholarships for 2000-01, and awards usually range from $10,000 to $25,000 for the first year of study. About 22% of first year MBAs receive some kind of merit-based award. Q: Loans, of course, are another avenue for financing an MBA. What's the first thing a prospective student should do when applying for a student loan through Haas? A: The first thing a [U.S.] applicant would do in applying for financial aid for the full-time MBA program at UC Berkeley is to file the FAFSA, which is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. "We prefer that applicants file that on the Web [because statistics show that fewer mistakes occur online]. There's [also] a faster turnaround [four to six weeks for a paper application vs. two to three for an online application]. The ideal time to complete those forms is between Jan. 1 and Mar. 2, preceding the fall in which [an applicant] hopes to enroll. In the case of our early admits, the first-round [application] deadline falls before [applicants] can file the FAFSA. [That's] because you need to know your total taxable and non-taxable income for the calendar year [which ends on Dec. 31. The FAFSA] calls for exactly what you've earned and how much tax you're going to pay. Some [applicants] get confused because they think they have to file their income-tax return before they fill out the FAFSA, but that's not the case. You can use estimated figures on the FAFSA, but you just can't complete the form prior to the end of the calendar year. Berkeley has a Mar. 2 priority deadline date for filing the FAFSA. Q: When can applicants expect to be notified about their financial-aid package? A: [Applicants] should expect at least a month to pass after receiving their admissions decision before hearing about financing [since] we do not mail financial aid offer letters until the student has been officially admitted to the program. The end of April is when the campus typically notifies students. There's also something called verification, which is a random process. If a [domestic] student has been selected for verification by Berkeley, that means he or she will have to submit federal tax returns for us to compare to their application information. And that always adds four weeks to the process. Q: In the 2000-01 school year, a second year Haas student could save $10,244 by applying for California residency. Is this a common phenomenon? A: Applying for residency is a very difficult thing to do. You have to be extremely thorough with maintaining documentation of your presence in the state of California. Among other things, you need to register to vote, re-register your car, open California bank accounts, and close all out-of-state ones. The majority of our first-year MBAs, about 80 or 90 a year, apply for residency. Most do, unless they know they will have or try to obtain a summer internship back in the state that they came from, in which case they're not eligible. International students are not eligible for California residency. You can find information about applying for legal residency on our Web site. Q: What are some of the options that second-year MBAs have available to them in terms of funding? A: One popular way of funding the second year is by applying for a position as a Graduate Student Instructor, or GSI. This year, 69 of our second-year students were offered positions to teach either undergrad classes or other graduate classes. It's highly unlikely that a first-year would get a GSI, because regular course work is too rigorous for students to be doing anything other than studying. Also, some second-years receive their signing bonuses early [in the academic year, after they sign on with investment banks and consulting firms, for example] and are able to use that towards their expenses. Lastly, because the class load is less rigorous, some of our second-year students actually work one or two days a week. Q: Are there need-based grants available to prospective students? A: No, there aren't per se, but we do have need-based grants available through the University Financial Aid office for students who are single parents with very low income. Q: Has Haas developed any private lending partnerships that applicants should know about? A: The private lenders with whom Haas most frequently participates are: Access Group (Business Access Loan), Citibank (CitiAssist Loan), GATE (Guaranteed Access Through Education) Loan, and the MBA Tuition Loan Program (through Sallie Mae/HEMAR). Our private loan information can be found at http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/MBA/finaid/prvtmba.html. Eligible students include domestic and international full-time MBAs, part-time MBAs, and MFE students. This year, in the full-time MBA program, 42 domestic students and 29 [non-U.S.] students [14.7%] took out private loans. Q: About a third of Haas students are not from the U.S. How is the financial-aid process different for international applicants? A: We offered a no-cosigner loan to full-time international students for the first time this year, but they were subject to a credit test designed to screen out those with substantially negative credit. It was the GATE Program, which is managed by First Marblehead Corporation. We are actively seeking campus approval and working with First Marblehead to offer a similar program for 2001-02. Q: I understand that Haas has a unique system in place for students who wish to pursue alternative careers that may not command a typical banker's salary. Tell us a little about that. A: Yes, we have something called the Haas Loan Repayment System. It's for students who go into the public service of non-profit sectors after graduation. We want students to not feel constrained when they are making their employment choices. To qualify, students have to work at least half time in a tax-exempt organization or at an agency of the local, state, or national government and earn less than $50,000 per year. They also qualify if they choose to work for a foreign government or a foreign nonprofit. Graduates can apply for the program up to three years after graduation and participate for a maximum of 10 years. Q: Are there any programs designed to aid under-represented minority groups? A: Yes, there are merit-based fellowships available for U.S. citizens who are African American, Hispanic American, or Native American through the Consortium for Graduate Study Management. Fellows receive full tuition and fees for enrollment at a two-year MBA program. Berkeley is one of 12 universities in the program. Q: Housing in Berkeley is generally pretty expensive. Do you know the going rate of apartment rentals in the Berkeley area? A: I just did a survey, as a matter of fact. A studio apartment goes for $935 a month; a one-bedroom apartment is $1,290; and one person's share of two-bedroom apartment is $1,265. Q: Is university housing available for Haas students? A: For students who are married or have children, family housing is available at the University Village. We suggest that those interested apply before they're admitted to Haas, because the wait for [available] apartments can be long. There are also small studios available to graduate students who are not married. The best way to find out about university housing is through the housing office Web site. Q: Does marital status effect one's eligibility for financial aid? A: A married student who applies through FAFSA has to include their spouse's income and asset situation. It's a federal regulation that we are not allowed to included the living expenses of the spouse when we budget the student, because we're not budgeting for the entire family's expenses. But in a case of a student with a child, we are able to add childcare expenses. Q: Speaking of childcare, does UC Berkeley have a program in place to help students with children? A: There is childcare available Monday through Friday for children 3 months to 8 years old. In order to take advantage of the childcare facility, at least one parent must be enrolled at the university. Q: In general, when should a prospective student start thinking about financing an MBA? A: Students should plan ahead and try to reduce their consumer debt by paying off credit cards and car loans, because those expenses aren't allowed to be considered under federal regulations. So if they can get their debt as minimal as possible, they won't be struggling to pay school expenses on top their consumer-choice items. People should also save [by] putting aside some of their liquid salaries. And it's always a good idea to do some thorough research about the school that they want to attend. This includes looking at the living costs for the area. Some people show up here and have no idea how much it costs to live in Berkeley! Q: If admitted students were to run into financial problems or have questions about the aid process along the way, how accessible will they find your office? A: Five years ago, my specific position did not exist at Haas. Students needed to go to the main campus financial-aid office, which serves the entire campus. The service was not as personalized as it is now by having someone in the position to be available exclusively to the MBAs. The students here are very appreciative. They get first-class service.  | | [an error occurred while processing this directive] Learn about your online education options |
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