How to finance your MBA

An MBA starts paying back returns after landing a good job post-graduation. However, adequate advance financial planning goes a long way to smoothen out your ride. This is so because in addition to the substantial cost of MBA education, the cost of living abroad is also on the higher side. Again, one has to also forego a huge chunk of salary for these one or two years in B-school. All these aspects need to be taken into account and provisions made for the same.

Loans

A lot of colleges have tie-ups with banks and financial institutions wherein students are offered loans at low interest rates.

Scholarships:

Scholarships may be provided either by the school itself or by various government or non-government organisations. Eligibility for these scholarships varies, so candidates need to check if they qualify to apply. These scholarships can help reduce the tuition fee burden to some extent.

Teaching assistants:

Some schools like MIT Sloan allow students to work as teaching or research assistants after completion of the first semester to help them cope with the expenses.

Sponsorship:

Though this may seem quite difficult, but it is definitely not impossible to obtain. Each class may have a few candidates who may have received full sponsorship from their existing employers. However this would also imply that they would have to go back to the same employer and fulfil the commitments made so that their company can reap the advantages for the investment made.