Now, I have a partial fellowship and have low living expenses. With the fellowship, I was able to nearly halve the school's projected budget. Tuition took up 41% of my budget, while room and board took up 22%. (When I say room and board, I mean rent and food expenses.) I even ended up with a significant amount of savings that automatically go towards initial expenses for internship relocation, and the next schoolyear's budget.
If I didn't have the fellowship:
Without the fellowship, tuition would've taken up 70% of the school's projected budget. And I couldn't afford that at all, so I wouldn't even be here writing this.
So if your MBA school's budget for the year is around 100,000 and it's halved because of the fellowship (for easier estimation), the tuition I paid for my first year would amount to $23,000. With a Php 43 exchange rate, that's nearly Php 1 million. Php 989,000 to be exact.
That's a lot of money to come up with on your own, but could be attainable if you have a high-paying job where you've worked for several years. But that's just your tuition. You still need money for the basic stuff -- remember food, clothing and shelter?
I guess when you're doing your research on the schools, you can come up with scenarios with regards to your fellowship. What if you get a $20,000 fellowship? What if it's half the tuition fees? What if it's 75% of the tuition fees? Can you afford what's left? What fellowship amount will enable you to accept a school's offer? If you don't get that (partial) amount, then flex your negotiation skills and ask. What if a lower-ranked school gives you a full ride?
Just don't think that it will be easy for you to land a full scholarship on account of your nationality. Save early and invest your money wisely. Know what level of debt you're comfortable with. (I have low debt tolerance myself.) Ask the MBA students of the schools you're interested in how they handled their finances. (There usually are links on the school's website; if not, then ask the admissions officer if you can correspond with a student.) Make sure that you run through best-case and worst-case scenarios in your mind before making financial commitments.
