<p>What is the point of this question on a graduate school application? Why do they want to know? Does it hurt an applicant to answer Yes? to answer No?</p>
<p>It probably varies from program to program. On face, it’s quite simple: they want to know if you would enroll if you had to pay out of pocket and/or borrow for the entire cost of attendance. Whether or not it hurts your admission probably depends on the program, how much money they have, and whether or not they were already planning to offer you a scholarship. Some schools might use it to choose to accept borderline candidates who will pay full price (as opposed to borderline candidates who will not pay full price). Other schools might use it to help decide who they give scholarships to (“we’re going to lose this great candidate if we don’t give them some money”).</p>
<p>Just be truthful on the form. Don’t tell them that you would attend and pay full price if you wouldn’t.</p>
<p>What a horrible question I’d wonder whether the answer would jeopardize funding for me that I’d otherwise get, and a candidate who said they had to have funding would get it instead.</p>
<p>It is a horrible question, but you have to answer and you gain nothing by answering falsely. If you need funding say so. If you don’t, then say so. </p>
<p>Yes, I thought it was a horrible question, too. One can worry both ways: If I say yes, they have less incentive to give me a financial award over somebody else who says no – no need to offer me money to lure me in – so am I jeopardizing my chances for an award? And if I say no, they potentially have less incentive to offer me a spot in the first place, for two reasons – one, I’m apparently not interested enough in attending, or I don’t value their program enough, to pay my own way (perhaps in their minds, I mean); and two, if they have to choose between me and another applicant, and the other applicant will pay their way while I won’t, they might be more inclined to offer the spot to the other person.</p>
<p>And you can only give a yes or no answer without any explanations. I mean, the answer to that question depends on what all the other grad school acceptances and funding packages look like, right?</p>
<p>Oh, well. It’s on lots of grad school applications. I wondered if anybody here knew the real purpose behind this question. </p>
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To see if you would come in the event that (a) they really want you but (b) can’t afford to fund you. In some departments this will be the norm, in other departments it will be exceedingly rare. That doesn’t mean they won’t also use it for the purposes you mentioned.</p>
<p>I never saw any PhD application explicitly asking for this, although they did ask whether you wish to be considered for financial aid. Then again, maybe it’s because I’m applying to PhD programs and the OP is not.</p>
<p>I saw this on some PhD applications.</p>
<p>Most of my PhD (in engineering) applications had a question like this. Some not so ominous reasons it is asked…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You have the option of applying for both the PhD and Masters program at most engineering schools. Funded Masters programs are not the norm in engineering. This is fair in my opinion. In a way they may be asking if you will pay for a masters admission if you are not accepted into the PhD program.</p></li>
<li><p>Sometimes National labs will pay tuition for their employees to get a PhD. I’ve seen this.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Other reasons…</p>
<ol>
<li>Some engineering schools offer admission without funding because they just don’t have the funding in March or April. It doesn’t mean that by the time school starts in Sept. there are unfunded PhD students. A school can offer funding to a student who has accepted admission at anytime…even once school has started…for a few weeks. The % of PhD students funded is available online…takes some digging to find. The question could really mean “Can you accept and wait it out?”.</li>
</ol>
<p>The funding paying tuition is “real” money. Rarely, is it a “waiver”. Profs apply for grants…it is loads of work for Profs to get and keep grants. The grants pay tuition. For PhD students, most of these top schools faculty are well meaning and hate to have a PhD student go unfunded…</p>
<p>FYI - I accepted into a PhD engineering program at Michigan unfunded. I got funded the Wednesday before classes started. Michigan still offers admission without funding, hopes students accept, and gives late funding.</p>
<p>I think that if PhD programs really mean “Can you deal with a level of uncertainty about your funding situation through the summer, knowing that your chances are actually really good of getting funding?” then they should say that rather than be cryptic and ask if you can attend without money. Those are two very different situations. I tend to be risk-averse and wouldn’t wait it out for a program unless I had no other options (and I’d be building a Plan B in the background, because I’d never attend a PhD program unfunded) but a lot of students do.</p>
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<p>FYI: They literally do tell accepted students this one way or another in my program.</p>
<p>By the way, if you have a choice between two comparable programs, schools, and advisors, I would literally “never” accept into and unfunded program when there is another alternative. I was in a tight spot when I accepted without funding…unemployed in our great recession with no comparable alternatives.</p>
<p>So somebody wants to go to grad school?! It really is a tough game. Step 1 is to get accepted. Step 2 is to get funded. None of these steps are easy. That is the reality.</p>
<p>By the way, I don’t think anything causes faculty more stress than funded PhD students who leave without finishing. I hear about faculty meetings on the subject, and faculty complain to anybody who will listen. If you go out to drinks with faculty, post-docs, and senior grad students, it could often be a main source of discussion. </p>
<p>Interesting discussion. Thanks for all of the responses! Since posting, this student found out that he has been accepted into the program. Now he must wait for funding decisions. He ended up choosing “Yes,” he WILL attend without funding. But, the reality is, he CAN’T attend without funding. Ha! Such a silly question. The future will tell …</p>
<p>If it is a PhD program, if they did not offer any money, I would suggest calling and finding out <em>how long</em> there would not be money. If a program has financial issues, it is common to not fund first year students and make them do work such as teaching assistantship or even teaching.</p>
<p>FWIW, it said “PLAN” to enroll. He could have PLANNED to enroll without any FA, BUT if things change, he could decline. And he could decline for any reason anyway!</p>
<p>If it is a master’s program, they are rarely funded so the question matters more.</p>
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<p>Right. We discussed that very thing. They’re asking for his “plan.” His plan can change!</p>
<p>He has been accepted for fall 2015, before most students have even applied, so it’s normal to not know anything about funding at this point. He hasn’t been declined funding … they just haven’t made any decisions about any of their applicants’ funding yet. Understandably.</p>
<p>I had read in many different places that one should apply for a PhD no matter what – even if the student isn’t really sure what he or she wants, or even if the student intends to “just” get a Master’s. My son wanted to be honest, and was. He applied for a Master’s. </p>
<p>SL, I wouldn’t get my hopes up for a funded masters degree…at least not the first semester. I did have a TA for part of my masters program. Not the first semester though. Definitely apply to other schools. Maybe do the Fafsa.</p>
<p>By the way, I don’t think you should always apply for a PhD, no matter what. Like I said, students who quit funded PhD are a major concern for faculty. It is a small world in many academic communities. If somebody quits a funded PhD to get a masters degree, they will have a hard time finding another advisor if they ever want to pursue a PhD in the future. Word gets around from university to university and from professor to professor. Professors really do talk specifically about this.</p>
<p>If there is no plans to pursue a PhD, I think you should say so.</p>
<p>Okay, jack63. Thanks. I hear what you’re saying about the funding, and we’ve read exactly that. Master’s degrees don’t often get funded. But, of course, we’re still hoping! Ha! Why not hope? 
</p>
Hey, I thought I’d check back in with the good news. This student was fully funded! He ended up putting Yes, he will attend without funding, and he stuck to his guns about applying for a master’s degree, even though he knew that PhD’s were more often fully funded, and he just found out that he will be fully funded. Yay! His fellowship includes funds for tuition & fees, plus over $20,000/yr in stipends. It’s designed to pay for housing, meals, basic travel, and personal expenses in addition to tuition and fees. Terrific. 
So, I still don’t get the point of the question on the application, but the answer he chose “Yes, if not offered a financial award, I still plan to enroll,” did not hurt him a bit in terms of scholarships. And that was the concern.
It is not always clear how to the answer that question! I’m glad it worked out.
Thanks! Yeah. The question feels intimidating. Maybe in the future people who have the same question will find this thread and will see that a Yes answer (admitting that you’d be willing to attend even if they won’t pay you), won’t necessarily hurt them. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, jack63!