<p>I am getting an nice 80% Tuition Waiver for my PhD program that Im starting next month.</p>
<p>However, I have now decided I want to do a Masters instead, but there is no Waiver for the Masters and I have to pay the full 100%</p>
<p>Both the Masters and PhD courses are the SAME FOR THE FIRST YEAR and the both cost the same per annum.</p>
<p>Now, my question is, is it possible for me to just go ahead on the PhD track for the first year (same as masters), and receive the waiver for the 1st year. Then in the second year or so, tell the university that I want to opt for a masters instead? i.e. essentially 'drop out' with a masters after 2 years whilst only paying for 1 full year and 20% of the 1st year (on the PhD track)?</p>
<p>In this scenario, do you think the University will ask for the waiver back before I complete the masters??</p>
<p>I’ve never seen a Ph.D. scholarship that would let you keep it if you weren’t in a Ph.D. program, so don’t get your hopes up. Most of the time, they’re funded by someone hoping to see a larger turn out of Ph.D. students; it’s a waste of money for them, then, to give it to someone not getting such a degree.</p>
<p>I’d start looking for another means of paying.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the problem with your scheme is that the program is not obligated to let you drop from a PhD program to a masters program. You might be out the 20% you put in your first year, with no degree at all, if you quit the PhD program.</p>
<p>I have known people who flunked their PhD comprehensive exams and were demoted to master’s programs, unwillingly. They were not obliged to reimburse their tuition waivers.
(But, you know, that sort of thing shows up when you ask for letters of recommendation and such.)</p>
<p>I would think it would occur to schools that folks without strong ethics who just wanted a masters would pull this and have provisions to make sure it does not work.</p>
<p>I have only heard of students in Masters programs that applied to PhD (first time or repeat) and got in, although I don’t know how they worked the financial agreement.
What made you want to change, the time, work, ?</p>