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How do students fund their MFE programs?

wkdwnstjdTprtm

Joined
9/19/15
Messages
100
Points
28
As you are all aware, doing masters program in financial engineering is very costly. It would cost almost like $80,000 a year including tuition, housing, food, etc. I am wondering how most students pay that money. Do their parents pay for the program mostly? I am asking this because I paid no money for undergraduate education, thanks to generous financial aid programs which are targeted to undergraduate education. However, as far as I know, there are no such financial aid systems for masters programs.
 
Considering most MFE students are international students and from Asia, and as you mentioned there are extremely limited financial aids for MFE program, mostly their parents pay for their tuition and living. But that "investment" can be easily paid off for students from top tier MFE program, because most of them would find a job in Wall Street and earn back the cost with less than a year of salary right after graduation.
 
wkdwnstjdTprtm said:
As you are all aware, doing masters program in financial engineering is very costly. It would cost almost like $80,000 a year including tuition, housing, food, etc. I am wondering how most students pay that money. Do their parents pay for the program mostly? I am asking this because I paid no money for undergraduate education, thanks to generous financial aid programs which are targeted to undergraduate education. However, as far as I know, there are no such financial aid systems for masters programs.
Click to expand...
Baruch is a top tier program and not as expensive.
 
BoY said:
because most of them would find a job in Wall Street and earn back the cost with less than a year of salary right after graduation.
Click to expand...
Assuming 85k... and you land a $100k job right out of college:

TAXES ~ 35k
Down to 65k
RENT ~ 18k
Down to 47k
FOOD, TRAVEL, ETC ~12k

Very modest budget above... you will take 3 years to pay it down. I would say 5 years is more reasonable.

Still; STUDENT LOANS is the correct answer.
 
Last edited:
MRoss said:
Assuming 85k... and you land a $100k job right out of college:

TAXES ~ 35k
Down to 65k
RENT ~ 18k
Down to 47k
FOOD, TRAVEL, ETC ~12k

Very modest budget above... you will take 3 years to pay it down. I would say 5 years is more reasonable.

Still; STUDENT LOANS is the correct answer.
Click to expand...

In NYC rent would be more like 24k. Most students I met in my MFE had their parents pay for their education. Most of them are international and don't qualify for student loans in the US. Maybe some of them get student loans in their home countries.
 
Many Chinese parents put their house as collateral to take out a loan for their children's education in the US so it's a big risk for many MFE students. The bet only pays if they get into a good program with reliable placement track record, do well in the program, interview wells to get internship and FT offers and make enough to justify.
The pool of programs that fit this criteria is not that big and the 2018 rankings will hopefully bring much needed transparency to the placement stats so students can make more informed choice.

I also read that back in 2013, UCB MFE has their own student loan program with UniCredit for up to 50K loan. Not sure if it's still available anymore.
 
MRoss said:
Assuming 85k... and you land a $100k job right out of college:

TAXES ~ 35k
Down to 65k
RENT ~ 18k
Down to 47k
FOOD, TRAVEL, ETC ~12k

Very modest budget above... you will take 3 years to pay it down. I would say 5 years is more reasonable.

Still; STUDENT LOANS is the correct answer.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I wish my parents were as rich as other international kids
 
Andy Nguyen said:
Many Chinese parents put their house as collateral to take out a loan for their children's education in the US so it's a big risk for many MFE students.
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Not so true lol. It is actually quite easy for many Chinese parents to just use their savings to pay the ~100k USD.
 
MRoss said:
Assuming 85k... and you land a $100k job right out of college:

TAXES ~ 35k
Down to 65k
RENT ~ 18k
Down to 47k
FOOD, TRAVEL, ETC ~12k

Very modest budget above... you will take 3 years to pay it down. I would say 5 years is more reasonable.

Still; STUDENT LOANS is the correct answer.
Click to expand...
For many BBs and decent HFs the entry level total compensation is more than 100k, but close. And I assume you are going to earn more than that after 3-5 years. But still, 3 years to earn back your tuition and cost of living is not that bad.

Student loans are not available for international students. So that's a no-go for most of MFE students.
 
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