I recieved my financial award letter last week and was pleasantly suprised at how high it was. It was almost $23k! At first I thought it must have been a mistake since Stanford state that typically, financial aid is between 15-25%, mine was more like 33%. After some discussion with family, it was decided that I accept a slightly lower loan than proposed by the financial aid office, with parents offsetting this with a larger contribution. In this process I felt there was too much discussion with family- yes, I know, MBA financing is a serious matter and I should be lucky that my parents have and are still willing to contribute to my education, but I felt so out of control- after all, it's my MBA, I got in and not them, so I should have more say into this matter. The big issue that I still find hard to deal with is African cultural values of family participating in ALL decisions vs the western, independent & responsible minded values I have grown up with. When these clash, I get very frustrated- I'm only free enough to make my own decisions and life plans up to a certain extent before family step in. I suppose I should be grateful such a supportive and caring family, which I am, but I'm just wondering when I'll be fully independent and responsible to carry out actions for my life without family interference.
So the $67k budget will be funded roughly evenly across the three sources- fellowship, loan and gift from parents. Next is visa stuff, just to instruct that the I-20 forms be sent to Tanzania to await my arrival in 2 weeks time. Did I mention that I have to renew my passport before starting on the visa process as well? I have 7 weeks from then...
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2 comments:
that's an healthy amount - almost a sixth of your total expected expense.
congratulations !
Thanks. I certainly didn't expect it, given that I'm an international student. That's one load of my mind...
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