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On financial aid, the JJWBGSP Scholarship, and student loan scams

Posted by Columbia SIPA

· Wednesday, March 6th, 2019

To our Fall 2019 MIA, MPA and MPA-DP applicants: Thank you for your patience as the Admissions Committee reads your applications. Decisions will be released in mid-March (so, soon!), and you’ll receive an email telling you to check your Status Page.

We’ve already been receiving some questions about financial aid and wanted to give a few updates about that:

First, we’ll have a number of admitted students events, online and in-person, that will fully cover financial aid options at SIPA. A reminder that your financial aid information is confidential, and often the best way to get personal information tailored to you is by contacting our Office of Financial Aid at [email protected].

Second is a scholarship reminder: In case you didn’t mark your calendars last time we posted about it, the 2019 Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program application opens tomorrow, March 7th, and closes on April 11, 2019. Find the full information for the JJWBGSP Scholarship on their website.

Finally, if you have a phone number, there’s a good chance that you have recently received numerous calls from someone telling you that your student loans are eligible for reduced monthly payments and/or forgiveness. There are a number of ways that student loan borrowers may be able to reduce monthly payments and/or qualify for partial forgiveness of their loan, but please be aware that these phone calls are all scams.

An article in the morning Metro describes an example; a borrower learns about repayment options that provide some relief, but doesn’t realize that the $50 monthly fee she’s being charged to sign up and remain in that option is completely unnecessary. Student loan borrowers have many options for repayment, and thanks to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program, many can get part of their loans forgiven, but all of this can be arranged by working with their loan servicer – completely free of charge. The monthly payments themselves might be a big enough financial obligation; don’t add an extra fee for services that shouldn’t cost anything.

Again, any SIPA students with questions about student loan repayment can always meet with or contact ([email protected]) a member of the Financial Aid Office staff for guidance; we also have information on repayment and PSLF here. We know that student loans can cause stress, but take the time to get all the facts.

Categories : Paying for SIPA, SIPA

Tags : Financial Aid, jjwbgsp, scholarship, student loans

The 2019 Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJWBGSP) opens on March 7th

Posted by Columbia SIPA

· Thursday, January 31st, 2019

Mark your calendars for the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJWBGSP), which will be taking applications from March 7 to April 11, 2019. A JJWBGSP scholarship provides tuition, a monthly living stipend, round-trip airfare, health insurance, and travel allowance. Since 1987 this program has assisted more than 5,800 mid-career professionals from developing countries and Japan to complete graduate degrees in development-related fields.

This scholarship is “open to women and men from developing countries with relevant professional experience and a history of supporting their countries’ development efforts who are applying to a master degree program in a development-related topic.” SIPA is one of the partner programs for this scholarship, and we encourage you to apply if you’re eligible:

Be a national of a World Bank member developing country;
Not hold dual citizenship of any developed country;
Be in good health;
Hold a Bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree earned at least 3 years prior to the Application Deadline date;
Have 3 years or more of recent development-related work experience after earning a Bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree;
Be employed in development-related work in a paid full- time position at the time of submitting the scholarship application. The only exception to this criterion is for developing country nationals from a country that will be on the updated list of Fragile and Conflict States provided to applicants in the Application Guidelines for each call for scholarships.
On or before the Scholarship Application Deadline date, be admitted unconditionally (except for funding) for the upcoming academic year to at least one of the JJ/WBGSP preferred university master’s programs located outside of the applicant’s country of citizenship and country of residence listed at the time the call for scholarship applications opens. The letter of admission must be uploaded before submitting your application.
Not be an Executive Director, his/her alternate, and/or staff of any type of appointment of the World Bank Group or a close relative of the aforementioned by blood or adoption with the term “close relative” defined as: Mother, Father, Sister, Half-sister, Brother, Half-brother, Son, Daughter, Aunt, Uncle, Niece, or Nephew.

Find full information for the JJWBGSP Scholarship on their website.

Don’t forget to review SIPA’s external funding database for other opportunities.