Financial Aid FAQs for MFA Students (pdf)

What is the cost?
What about financial aid?
Scholarships and Assistantships

What is the cost?

The tuition for the Program is $7,900 for each semester through Summer 2013.* The tuition includes a $150 graduation fee, a $100 Creative Thesis fee, and a fifth-residency fee. The Spalding application fee is $30.

Students and alums relax after a long day at residency

For the Louisville residencies, students are responsible for travel and housing, while many residency meals are included. The cost for housing ranges from $430 to $875 for nine nights at the Brown Hotel. Depending on availability lower-cost housing at the University dormitory may be available (around $250 for nine nights). If they prefer, students may make their own accommodation arrangements. Students who bring a car to the residency may have parking fees.

For the summer residency, students are responsible for travel, housing, and meals; the estimated cost is $3,900-4,900, but costs do vary depending on the location and accommodations.

The cost of books is difficult to determine because each semester’s reading list is individually determined, but an estimate is $200-$250. Postage to mail packets during the semester ranges from $150-$200.

Upon acceptance, a $500 deposit is required to hold the student’s place in the program. This deposit is non-refundable and is applied to tuition.

Tuition and the technology fee are due before the beginning of the residency and may be sent by check or money order, paid by Visa or MasterCard by phone before arrival at the residency, or for spring and fall semesters paid at the Enrollment Services Center on the Friday of arrival up until 5 p.m.

*A tuition increase of 4-5 percent is expected each fall. Top

What about financial assistance?

Student Loans
Graduate students who are U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens may use federal student loans to help finance their studies. No grants or fellowships are available through Spalding University.

Molly Peacock and Roy Hoffman read excerpts of graduates work

Federal students loans for graduate students are available to most U. S. citizens unless they have defaulted on previous student loans or have reached the lifetime limit. (See www.fafsa.ed.gov for a discussion of the limits.) Full-time graduate students are usually eligible to borrow up to about $20,000 per year (2 semesters per year). See a list of Financial Aid FAQs here.

Even before being accepted to the Program, students interested in financial aid through student loans may fill out the federal form (FAFSA), which is included in the application packet. The form may also be filled out online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Spalding’s code is 001960.

While applicants who wish financial aid through federal student loans should fill out the federal aid form (FAFSA) as soon as possible when making application, Spalding’s Financial Aid Office cannot provide financial aid package information until the applicant has been accepted into the Program. Once accepted, students may contact the Financial Aid Specialist at (502) 873-4330, or (800) 896-8941, ext. 4330.

Contributions to Scholarship Funds
Through of generous donations of alumni, faculty, students, and friends of the MFA, the Program several scholarship funds (see below). Persons interested in making a donation to any of the MFA in Writing scholarship funds or in setting up a special named scholarship should contact the Bobbie Rafferty, Director of Advancement and Philanthropy. Top

Scholarship Resources Currently Available to Students

In 2011, the Spalding MFA awarded 32 scholarships in the amount of $28,950. New students who have been accepted into the MFA in Writing Program may apply for a scholarship as described below. To apply, eligible new students email Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund at mfa@spalding.edu describing their need and stating the desire to be considered for a scholarship. Please put “Scholarship Request” in the subject line. The deadline for application is April 1 for the spring or summer semester and August 1 for the fall semester. For other than the minority scholarship, applicants do not need to specify the scholarship for which they are applying.

• MFA in Writing Scholarship Fund for Minorities:
  

  Prog. Dir. Sena Jeter Naslund reads at the American Embassy during the Paris summer residency

  These scholarships, usually in the amount of $500-1,000, are based on merit,
  then on need. (Minority is defined as person of color.)

• MFA in Writing Scholarship Fund: From this fund, several scholarships in the range of $500-$750 are given to new students based on merit, then on need. In 2011, the program awarded 32 scholarships totaling $28,950 to students.
• MFA Alumni Endowed Scholarship. Beginning in spring 2010, new students are given scholarships based on need from this fund.
• J. Terry Price Scholarship. Beginning in spring 2010, a new student in fiction is awarded a scholarship from this fund based on need.
• Diana M. Raab Scholarship in Creative Nonfiction: In 2011, a creative nonfiction student was awarded a $250 scholarship, which can be renewed each semester as long as the student returns the following semester and remains in good standing in the Program. In general, this scholarship is awarded every two years to a new student.
• Eileen Spinelli Writing for Children Scholarship. Each semester, a new student in writing for children and young adults is awarded a scholarship of $250 based on need. Top

Graduate Assistantships

For second-, third-, and fourth-semester students, several graduate assistantships are available that result in tuition remission from about $600 to $1,800 per semester. Assistantships are competitive and for one semester only (though a student may re-apply for assistantships in subsequent semesters). In 2011, the program awarded 35 assistantships totaling about $50,520 for the spring, summer, and fall semesters.The amount of the assistantship depends on the nature of the assistantship and the amount of hours a student is able to commit to the assistantship. For example, an assistantship for a student who wishes to work 5 hours a week during the semester is $1,200. Assistantships include working on the program newsletter, working in the MFA office, working as a publication specialist for The Louisville Review and Fleur-de-Lis Press, and assisting with The Louisville Review, a national literary magazine. Students do not have to live in Louisville to apply for graduate assistantships. The deadline to apply for an assistantship for the fall 2012 semester is August 28, 2012. Top

Contact us:

MFA Office: (502) 873-4400 or (800) 896-8941, ext. 4400
mfa@spalding.edu

Spalding University
851 South Fourth Street
Louisville, KY 40203

FAX: (502) 992-2409

last updated 04-12-2012 information subject to change without notice

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