58: Accepting an Offer With Little to No Funding

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hi everyone. Today I am recording a quick episode, because something has come up, both for a few of my students and also some of my listeners. I like to just address topics as soon as they come up when there's a need, because I think it's important.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What has come up this week? It's the week of SIR-ing. It's the April 15th deadline - that's the deadline for most graduate programs for you to accept an offer and say yes or no, I'm not going to go there. What has come up is that I found that a couple of students, whether it's listeners or my own students, have accepted offers with little to no funding. So what do you do if you accept an offer with little to no funding?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The first thing I want to say is, don't freak out. But you need to prepare yourself for the commitment that you have just made. And you need to- just like I like to meet with students and have them go over a bunch of different things and factors in making a decision, I want them to make an informed decision -the same should happen after you've said yes. If you feel like maybe you didn't make the most informed decision, maybe you didn't create a budget, maybe you didn't figure out exactly how much debt you're going to incur, now's the time to do so.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

It is important for you to know kind of what's going to come up for you, both now and the long term implications of the decision that you've made. Now, before I get to what to do, first off, congratulations. I don't want to underestimate just what a big deal it is that you got into a graduate program, especially because I know most of my listeners are working class or first gen or students of color.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The numbers are so low for folks like us. It's a huge deal. It's a huge deal that you got in. It's a huge deal that you have accepted. Go ahead and celebrate yourself whenever you can. Maybe you're still a student, and you're trying to get ready to graduate, finish your classes. Okay, focus on that. But make sure you celebrate because it is a huge accomplishment. So felicidades, you are incredible.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

On the other side of things, like I said earlier, it's a big commitment. I want you to do a couple of things, just to make yourself feel better. So that you know that come fall, when you start your program, you're gonna start with a clearer kind of idea of what you've committed yourself to, at least financially, and in terms of the logistics too 3of going to another school and moving etc.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

First thing you should do, if you haven't already- hopefully you've done this, but if you haven't do this now- is create a budget. You want to create a budget and that budget should reflect your different expenses. One thing is your tuition. How much is tuition per year?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I'm going to use the example of you getting into a master's program, because that's been more common, where students, our students, have gotten into master's programs with little to no funding. And the students that got the most funding even then got maybe up to 30% of their tuition covered, but not full funding. Whereas our students who got admitted to PhD programs, they have been able to secure a full funding package.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Let's say you got admitted into a very competitive master's programs. It's a top program in your field, but they offer you very little funding. A couple of thousand, or maybe nothing, and all of it is supposed to go toward tuition. So there's no funding for you on bills, cost of living expenses, personal expenses. Create a budget.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

You list the tuition per year. If it's a master's program, let's say it's two years. How much is tuition for each year? Then you want to make sure that the budget reflects your cost of living. Look up the city and the location where realistically you'd be living. Would you be living in university housing?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If there is university housing, I always encourage you to apply, because University Housing tends to be subsidized, which means it tends to be cheaper than any other kind of rental places in the area. There's graduate student housing- go ahead and apply for that, and include that amount in your budget. How much would it cost for you to get a studio or one bedroom? Or would you want to live with roommates? How much would it cost for you to share a room with someone? Then put that in your budget and multiply that by 12.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So 12 months to a year- how much is the monthly rate? Let's say if it's $1,000 a month, then you've got $12,000 for the year. Then multiply that by the two years that you're going to be in your master's program. That's $24,000. You put that in your budget. You put the tuition costs. Let's say tuition is 30k per year, so you put 30k tuition per year. 12k, cost of housing, cost of living, and then any other bills that you have. Then you add that up per year and realistically, that is the amount of debt that you are going to be incurring.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If they gave you some funding, then you subtract that from the total amount of debt. Then that's your final number. You want to know, how much realistically am I going to take on in terms of the debt per year? I like to keep it separate by year, because I really encourage students to have kind of like a hustling mindset when you're in grad school. Once you arrive, you want to make sure you get your second year covered.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If it's two years, you want to make sure that the debt that you're incurring is for the first year only, and that you do what you need to do to get as much funding for your second year. That way, if it's a two year program, and you're calculating the debt for the two years, hopefully, that debt is only for the one year. In that second year, you're going to do whatever you need to do to get that covered, so then your slashing half of your debt already in that way.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Create that budget. Make sure it includes cost of living. Make sure it includes your tuition, and then anything else. Like maybe you might need a car. How much is it going to cost for you to have a car? How much is it going to cost for gas and for your insurance, if you're moving to a place where you have to have a car to get by? Public transit- how much is that going to cost? Are you going to need to pay for your own utilities? Are you going to need to pay for your phone?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Any bills that you know that you're going to incur, make sure to include that in your monthly budget and calculate your annual amount of how much you're going to spend to get by. After you have that budget, another thing I would like to encourage you to do- which I know is going to be a little bit scary, a little bit awkward and uncomfortable, but trust me, you won't regret doing this- is asking for funding after the fact. Yes, you can do that.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What's the worst that can happen if you ask for funding is they'll turn you down. They say sorry, you have already accepted. We don't have any additional scholarships or fellowships to offer you. Good luck. The worst thing that can happen is you've already said yes, they don't have extra money, you don't get anything else. What's the best thing that can happen, is you get a little bit of extra money. Every little bit more that you can get will help you.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I'm sure now you're wondering, okay, how do I even do that? Who do I contact? What do I say? Am I going to seem ungrateful? What's gonna happen? Well, you contact whoever it was that sent you your acceptance letter, or whoever it was who sent you your award letter if you got partial funding. Then you let them know- dear X, whoever that is. Thank you so much for the offer of support via the scholarship, if you got some funding. Or thank you so much for the admission to the program. I look forward to joining the entering class.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Express your enthusiasm, and then you come at them with -they might not know your circumstances. Not everybody read your application materials. A lot of folks that go to grad school come from generational wealth. They're trust fund babies. They've got parents who planned for their education. It was safe for them and they're not worried about money.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

They don't know who you are. For all they know, you could be one of those people. So you let them know. Thank you so much. I look forward to entering the class. However, as a first generation, working class student, my financial aid package for my funding is a crucial factor in my ability to thrive in the program. I am wondering if the department is able to offer any funding or is able to increase my aid- one of those.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Also, does the department offer any funding for relocation expenses? Sometimes they have small pockets of money, where they can give you an extra $500, $750, $1000 for you to use toward moving. It's okay to ask for funding for relocation expenses.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Lastly, please let me know if there are any additional scholarships, fellowships or on- campus employment opportunities I can apply for. That one is key, because even if they have zero funding to offer you, they can always tell you where to apply for things. They can refer you to- oh, check out the site of fellowships. Check out this employment, or consult with your advisor who might be able to hire you as a research assistant in the summer before you start, and then you get some funding that way.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If you don't put yourself out there, if you don't make the ask, no one's gonna go out of their way to just give it to you, especially because you've already SIR-d. So go ahead and ask. Ask for funding after the fact. The worst thing that can happen is they say- no, we don't have anything.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But actually, I had one student do this recently. That student got an extra $6,000 after asking. And that student really told me, I don't think they're gonna give me anything else. I'm pretty sure what they offered me is the final say. That was the impression that the student got. Then they asked, and they got an extra $6,000. And they were telling me see, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have asked, and you just got me an extra $6,000.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I had another student who similarly, for a summer program, the summer program is gonna give them a stipend. And then they said that in addition to the research stipend, students could request funding for cost of living expenses, or for housing. And the student told me, well, I'm going to be doing the summer program virtually. I'm going to be doing it at home, and I'm not paying rent at home. And I said, okay, but do you have other housing costs or living related expenses? Are you paying for groceries to help your family? Are you paying for the internet? Are you paying for your cell phone?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And the student was checking off- yes, yes, yes. I'm like, okay, let's create a budget with the line items. Groceries for the eight weeks of the summer program, the cable/ internet bill for the eight weeks, and then the phone bill. That was at least $500. So then the students sent that estimated budget to the program to request extra funding for housing. The student got it. And again, the student said, if you hadn't told me to do this, I wouldn't have had that extra $500.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

See, there are pockets of funding a lot of the times, if you ask for it. Not always, but again, it doesn't hurt to ask. So I said create your budget. Ask for funding after the fact, ideally before you SIR. But right now, it's past April 15th so it's after the fact. You ask for funding if you didn't already do it. Then that's when you start the hustle. You've committed yourself to go to graduate school. And congratulations on that. But you need to make sure you figure out funding and treat it like your part time job.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Speaking of funding, don't forget- sometimes students forget. Just because you're done with undergrad, doesn't mean that you're done with FAFSA. You should still apply for FAFSA. Why do you need to apply for FAFSA? Because that's one of the ways that graduate programs determine your need, and whether you qualify for need based fellowships. That's also how they would determine what type of loans you'll get- federal loans.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

One thing I was mentioning to a student recently is that you want to ideally get subsidized loans, because for those, you're not going to be accruing interest while you're in school. If you get federal unsubsidized loans, you are gonna start to accrue interest. You might want to look into paying, just even if it's just paying the minimum, paying the interest while you're in grad school. That way you your debt doesn't start to grow too much while you're in grad school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So think about even the types of debt, because you want federal loans. You want to avoid as much as possible private loans. Private loans aren't held to the same kind of safety practices. They can take advantage of you in other ways, and you also would not qualify for loan forgiveness, for instance, if it's a private loan. If you know you're going to take out that, find out what type of debt it is. Make sure it's federal loans, ideally subsidized, and if it's unsubsidized, come up with a plan for how you're going to pay off at least the interest while you're in grad school. Just keep that in mind. Don't forget, apply for the FAFSA.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right, so what's the hustle? What are you going to be doing when you start grad school? Yes, you're transitioning, trying to do well academically, learn as much as you can, gain all the awesome skills. But you also need to apply for scholarships, apply for fellowships and treat that as your part time job from here on out. Pretend like it's part of the curriculum, it's part of the program, that you're required to apply to scholarships and fellowships.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then also look into on campus employment opportunities. Look into part time jobs. Yes, you may be discouraged in your program. They might say, we don't recommend that you work. We want you to focus entirely on the program. That's true, but not everybody has that privilege. Not everybody has the class, financial privilege to just be like, okay, I'm just gonna focus on my studies.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I hustled in grad school. I hustled. I worked multiple jobs. It was really hard, but it also minimized the amount of debt that I incurred. So part time jobs. What kind of jobs? You can look for TA ships, being a teaching assistant. You can look for research assistantships. You can try to be a grad mentor. See if there are any programs on campus, like Mellon Mays, like McNair, or other related undergraduate research programs, and become a mentor.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If you're listening to my podcast, you listen to all my episodes and keep listening, odds are you're gonna learn everything that I know and you will be an awesome grad mentor, grad femtor. You could apply to be a grad mentor within those positions. You could see- you might actually qualify based on FAFSA for work study. Yes, work study is a thing in grad school. It's not as common, but it is a thing. So just look into those part time jobs.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Why? Why do you want to look up on campus as opposed to off campus forms of employment? Because a lot of these jobs come with tuition and fee remission. I mean, that 30k a year that you had as a debt, you land the grad mentor job where they provide tuition and fee remission, 30k slashed. You're no longer having to pay that. How amazing is that? Our grad mentors, they get tuition and fee remission.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So if you're applying for jobs, you can ask this. This is one thing I keep telling my students. You want to land the job, you got to put yourself out there. Contact the directors -dont wait until there's a job ad out. Contact the directors of the different centers, of the different programs now. Introduce yourself, say who you are, say that you're a prospective students. You can even say if you were a McNair, Mellon, whatever, MARC.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

You can say, I am am entering blah, blah, blah in this program. I'm also a McNair scholar from etc., and I'm looking into employment opportunities on campus. I would love to be a graduate student mentor in your office. Please let me know when there are any openings so that I can apply. You put yourself out there.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

This is something that I do as an associate director. When graduate students reach out to me to say, I'm interested in working for your program. You know what I do? I save their email. I put it in a folder that says prospective grad student or prospective grad mentor. Then when we have openings, I obviously send it to my listservs. But then I send personal emails to those folks, especially if they've reached out to me recently. I'm like, oh, yeah, that one student was really interested. Let me send them the job ad.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If they know you, if they remember you, they might do the same thing. They might say, that students that is new, is coming and entering this fall. Now we have an opening, let me send them the job ad. So put yourself out there. You never know when an opportunity will come up.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then when you do apply, even before you apply for these positions, you can ask them- you know, thank you so much for sending me this job ad. I'm very much interested in applying. I have a few extra questions. Can you let me know what the hourly rate is for this position, and can you also please let me know if the position comes with tuition and fee remission? Remember that phrase - tuition and fee remission. Because then it's really worth your time if you're gonna get that, again, slashed from from your debt.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I think that's all I want to say about what to do if you accepted an offer with little to no funding. Create your budgets, ask for funding. It's okay. It's less common, but you may still be able to get some extra funding if you ask for it. Apply for funding.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Even now, ask now. Because remember, when you're applying for funding, usually when you apply for fellowships, you're applying a year in advance so you'd be applying now for things that come up in the fall. Then next year when you start your first year im grad school, you'll be applying for things- scholarships, fellowships- for your second year.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then just work under the assumption that it's your part time job, that you're doing this to make sure you get your second year covered or following years covered. Then you won't accrue as much debt, you'll complete your program. Hopefully, you'll also continue networking so that you can put yourself in a good position to either continue on to a PhD program if that's something you're interested in, or to apply for jobs if that's the route that you're gonna go.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I hope you found this helpful. It's not the end of the world if you accepted an offer with little to no funding. You should still celebrate yourself. There is still hope. You should be fine, so long as again, you are informed and you are proactive.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I really want to make sure that students know this information, because it's something that I definitely did not know when I was an undergrad. It's really important because your future self will thank you. All right, y'all. I'll talk to you all next time.