How to fund MFE degree?

gen_engineer · 6/11/23

Hi all,

I am Indian who has just graduated from an engineering college in India (no existing education loans but no existing savings either).

I wanted to understand how students, particularly from India, fund their MFE studies in the USA.

From my calculations it will cost me around INR 83 lakhs to finance my entire MFE journey including rent, food, insurance etc. Assuming no program scholarships, how do most international students fund their masters degree? I know that teaching assistantships pay well but from what I researched it is rare to get a teaching assistantships at Princeton MFin, UCB MFE, CMU MSCF. Do most students take a loan of>70 lakhs? I would love to hear particularly from Indian students who graduated 1+ years back and took a loan.

- Is it a big burden to take such a big loan?
- how much of your monthly salary do you use up in paying interest?
- if you do take such a big loan, is it imperative that you then work in the US itself for 7-8 years to pay it off?
- if most people don't take such large loans, does that mean it is better to work for 3-4 years - save INR 30L and take a smaller loan?

Any insights would be appreciated!

Andy Nguyen · 6/11/23

Unless your family is wealthy, most people take out loan to attend these programs, unfortunately. It's very expensive to do these MFE programs, specially if you go study in NYC, CA or most big cities really.
Tuition and cost are a big factor on where many students decide to go. Some pick programs that give them the most scholarship/aid.
At the end, you are still responsible for a huge amount of money that you need to pay off for a next few years. This put a great emphasis on going to programs with a solid track record of placement and career services to increase your chance of getting a well-paying job.
If you search around here, you see people discuss loan options for international students.

International students loans

Hello everyone, I'm newbie here. I'm going to apply for several MFE programs this fall, but obtaining funds for my education is my main concern now. I'm an international applicant and it's difficult for me to get any loan in my home country. So, I did some research and found out that only...

quantnet.com

MikeLawrence · 6/11/23

For what it is worth:
Baruch is cheap and top notch
UChicago, after the hefty scholarships they hand out, can be cheaper than Baruch. Their exiting salaries are less than Baruch's, but the program is also top-notch. I think it is under-ranked by QN's evaluation system, not sure why that would be though. Much easier to get into, greater than 22.1% acceptance rate.

Andy Nguyen · 6/13/23

The data on scholarship/aid offered by different programs should be more public. I think it attracts more applicants whose cost is one of the top criteria. Without the data, people will just look at the sticker price and decide not to apply which is a big loss for everyone.
I did reach out to Chicago to see if they can disclose more data on aid offered to applicants but unfortunately they do not make that data public.

gen_engineer · 6/14/23

Thanks for your replies everyone!

I am particularly interested in the following programs:
1. Princeton MFin
2. UC Berkeley MFE
3. CMU MSCF

Baruch seems a bit out of reach for me given my grades, lack of math courses among other things.

I have already secured an admit for UC Berkeley 24-25 batch. I will be applying to CMU and Princeton for their fall 24 programs. Will be working as a quant researcher at a BB till then.

If I decide to join UCB I will have to take a loan of at least $90,000 since they dont have TAships/RAships available for MFE studs. Is this investment worth making? Assuming a 10% interest and a $2000 monthly payment on my end, it will take me around 5 years to pay back my loan.

Is this feasible given the high taxes and cost of living that presently plague cities like NY, SF, Chicago? Worth doing?

Would love to hear from UCB, CMU and Princeton alums in particular about how they financed their education.

Tagging a few active people I have seen @WorkofArt @hardrock

QuantitativeAnalcyst · 6/14/23

gen_engineer said:
Thanks for your replies everyone!

I am particularly interested in the following programs:
1. Princeton MFin
2. UC Berkeley MFE
3. CMU MSCF

Baruch seems a bit out of reach for me given my grades, lack of math courses among other things.

I have already secured an admit for UC Berkeley 24-25 batch. I will be applying to CMU and Princeton for their fall 24 programs. Will be working as a quant researcher at a BB till then.

If I decide to join UCB I will have to take a loan of at least $90,000 since they dont have TAships/RAships available for MFE studs. Is this investment worth making? Assuming a 10% interest and a $2000 monthly payment on my end, it will take me around 5 years to pay back my loan.

Is this feasible given the high taxes and cost of living that presently plague cities like NY, SF, Chicago? Worth doing?

Would love to hear from UCB, CMU and Princeton alums in particular about how they financed their education.

Tagging a few active people I have seen @WorkofArt @hardrock

Debt, debt, then more debt. Private debt, govt. debt, credit card debt. Any kind of debt you can lay your hands on.
Sooner or later Biden is going to cancel it all anyway.

Kevin Griffin · 6/14/23

gen_engineer said:
Thanks for your replies everyone!

I am particularly interested in the following programs:
1. Princeton MFin
2. UC Berkeley MFE
3. CMU MSCF

Baruch seems a bit out of reach for me given my grades, lack of math courses among other things.

I have already secured an admit for UC Berkeley 24-25 batch. I will be applying to CMU and Princeton for their fall 24 programs. Will be working as a quant researcher at a BB till then.

If I decide to join UCB I will have to take a loan of at least $90,000 since they dont have TAships/RAships available for MFE studs. Is this investment worth making? Assuming a 10% interest and a $2000 monthly payment on my end, it will take me around 5 years to pay back my loan.

Is this feasible given the high taxes and cost of living that presently plague cities like NY, SF, Chicago? Worth doing?

Would love to hear from UCB, CMU and Princeton alums in particular about how they financed their education.

Tagging a few active people I have seen @WorkofArt @hardrock

I wouldn't write off Baruch if you're applying to these programs. Your undergraduate math courses can be supplemented by the Pre-MFE courses they offer (which are refreshers + fulfill pre-requisites for applying if needed).

Quasar Chunawala · 6/15/23

@gen_engineer, what about applying to some fresh grad opportunities (software dev/analyst) in the financial industry in a tier-1 city (London/NY), getting a couple of years work-ex and partly funding your studies. It could be an alternative route, you might have on the table.

gen_engineer · 6/15/23

Yeah that's what I've been contemplating. It's next to impossible right now for me to get a job outside India but at the moment I am thinking of working in Mumbai/Bangalore/Gurgaon for 3-4 years, accumulate around 30-40 lakhs in savings and hence almost halve my loan requirement.

Quasar Chunawala · 6/16/23

gen_engineer said:
Yeah that's what I've been contemplating. It's next to impossible right now for me to get a job outside India but at the moment I am thinking of working in Mumbai/Bangalore/Gurgaon for 3-4 years, accumulate around 30-40 lakhs in savings and hence almost halve my loan requirement.

3-4 years is a long time in one's career, if you're passionate. My suggestion is, do some interesting side/toy projects, learn tech/applied math skills, give a slant to your resume, and try to pivot to centers in the US/EU where there are quant/finance/tech positions. That's half the job done there.

AFAIK, there are no real FO quant jobs in Mumbai. There is structuring (which is nice) and MO.

QuantCoach · 6/16/23

gen_engineer said:
I am particularly interested in the following programs:
1. Princeton MFin
2. UC Berkeley MFE
3. CMU MSCF

Baruch seems a bit out of reach for me given my grades, lack of math courses among other things.

You're not applying to Baruch because you think it's out of reach given your grades but your top choice is Princeton? Just apply to both. Especially considering your concern in tuition costs, Baruch is probably the best bang for your buck. U Chicago also gives out massive scholarships.

gen_engineer said:
If I decide to join UCB I will have to take a loan of at least $90,000 since they dont have TAships/RAships available for MFE studs. Is this investment worth making? Assuming a 10% interest and a $2000 monthly payment on my end, it will take me around 5 years to pay back my loan.

Alot of good buyside internships are now paying ~60k for 10 weeks not including housing - I used this to finance some of my tuition. You're going to make 150k base + 50k sign on bonus for full-time FO roles at quite a few banks, and can pay off your entire tuition with just the sign-on bonus from Citadel, I was lucky enough where my parents funded my masters but I paid them back ~ a year later with my internship + full-time sign-on bonus. Think of it as an investment. Also there were some students in Princeton that did the one year option, where their company paid for it.

gen_engineer · 6/17/23

QuantCoach said:
You're not applying to Baruch because you think it's out of reach given your grades but your top choice is Princeton? Just apply to both. Especially considering your concern in tuition costs, Baruch is probably the best bang for your buck. U Chicago also gives out massive scholarships.

Hmm makes sense. My concern with Baruch was mainly empirical - I have an 8.1 GPA from an IIT (Computer Science major) in India. Every year I have seen only 1-2 Indians make it to Baruch and they have often had far better grades and often a lot more math curriculum. On the other hand, I have seen a lot of people with similar grades and similar profiles get into Princeton. Hence, Princeton over Baruch

QuantCoach said:
Alot of good buyside internships are now paying ~60k for 10 weeks not including housing - I used this to finance some of my tuition. You're going to make 150k base + 50k sign on bonus for full-time FO roles at quite a few banks, and can pay off your entire tuition with just the sign-on bonus from Citadel, I was lucky enough where my parents funded my masters but I paid them back ~ a year later with my internship + full-time sign-on bonus. Think of it as an investment. Also there were some students in Princeton that did the one year option, where their company paid for it.

Thanks! I guess that even a not very great sellside internship would be paying 30K for the summer using which I could probably fund a significant portion of last term's fees.