I have a bit of an unconventional financial aid question. Here’s my situation:
I just graduated from Stanford in June with a B.A. in Psychology.
I’ve decided to petition to return as an undergrad and pursue a B.S. in Computer Science, as Stanford does allows past B.A. students to petition to return (as long as it’s for a B.S., not another B.A.)
I’d ideally return Winter Quarter, which begins in January, but if I can’t get at least some aid in time, I’d be willing to defer.
I’ve asked Stanford about aid, but since I used all twelve of my aid quarters during my first degree, they cannot provide me anymore aid, even need-based. Federal loans would only cover about 1/4 of the cost of attendance, so I’d need private loans to cover the rest.
I’m Black and female, and I’m hoping that there are at least a few scholarships available for women/underrepresented folks looking to pursue a second degree in tech.
I’ve found many scholarships for women/minorities in tech, but a majority of them disqualify anyone who is not a high school senior or a first-year undergrad. I would likely reenter Stanford as a junior, so this excludes me from seemingly most scholarships.
TL;DR:
Do any of you know of grants and scholarships that would be available to someone in my position: an underrepresented-minority woman pursuing a second bachelor’s in STEM? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Why not go to an affordable school and work your way through? I cannot see that you would be an actual junior from a CS class progression POV, just standing, right? You have looked a the CS 4 yr plan? How many of those classes have you actually completed in the fresh/soph sequence?
Your degree means that you have the ability to hold quite a decently paid job part time vs minimum wage. I live in a WUE state where many students work their way through their degrees while procreating . Do you object to working? Have you held a full time job thus far?
I think you are going to have a lot of trouble finding significant funding to attend Stanford for a second undergrad degree. There just isn’t funding for those sorts of things. I don’t think you will get any federally funded need based aid either…and that could include any student loans.
And starting mid year isn’t going to help you either.
I’m not sure why you think a second bachelors would,be better than a grad degree.
My suggestion…get a job. Work for a year or two. Save money. Apply to grad programs that are less costly than Stanford (most will be).
CS is one of those fields where the school name isn’t as important as your actual courses, and experiences while,studying.
You absolutely do NOT need to go to Stanford for this second bachelors.
Speaking as someone who has a BS and is back in school as an undergrad, there is virtually no money out there for that situation. There’s not enough money going around for people struggling with their first degree, so it makes sense.
Previous posters have great, economical suggestions that may work better than trying to finance your way through ~3 more years at Stanford.
Consider skipping the additional degree and instead apply for a job at Epic in Wisconsin and get trained in a software field. No additional degree needed beyond your Stanford psychology degree.
Thanks for your suggestions. A quick clarification on the time frame: Assuming that I’m able to get the classes that I need and go at the slowest possible full-time student pace, completing the CS degree would take 2 years - $96,000 in tuition. If I find that I can handle a more intense workload, I can save $16,000 by taking a few 15-unit quarters instead of 12 units, finishing a quarter early.
nw2this: I don’t have the connections or the foundations to be accepted for a technical grad degree. During undergrad, I took only the calculus sequence and intro statistics.
Sybylla: I’ve fulfilled all the general ed requirements that undergrads would ordinarily spend their freshman and sophomore year working on. The prerequisites for the classes I need to take in CS are not so steep that I would spend my entire first year (or even a couple quarters) knocking them out. I’d be able to get started on CS fundamentals right away and work from there. I’d be happy to work part time while attending (plenty of opportunities out here). I currently hold a full time job that I dislike and do not see a satisfying future in (and that applies to the field generally, not this specific company/role).
thumper1: Your perspective is interesting. What evidence is there that school name doesn’t matter in CS? Stanford is arguably the leading CS school, so would I not be maximizing my credibility, earning potential, exposure to valuable opportunities and experiences, and potential for connecting with professors & asst. professors by going there? I also have the advantage of knowing exactly what to get involved in, what’s available, recommendations for classes, etc. from already having attended Stanford.
flatKansas: It is understandable, but retraining in a STEM field is a special case. There’s a scarcity of qualified people in tech, and especially of “diverse” qualified people. For example, I was able to find that SWE offers grants for women engineers to complete additional undergraduate work to reenter the workforce in engineering. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything in their offerings about non-engineer women retraining to become engineers.
Madison85: Thanks for the tip! Reading the feedback on Epic on Glassdoor, it doesn’t look like the place for me (also, they specified already holding a degree in a quantitative field). Are you aware of similar opportunities elsewhere? Finding a training program here in the Bay Area open would be a good option for me. (I should also mention that I’m interested in data science and machine learning, not so much software - the CS degree is to get a strong understanding of programming methodology and mathematical foundations so that I can design models to help organizations learn from their data.)
So…you would spend $96,000 in tuition…and what for living expenses…for two years.
My evidence. Look at all of the employees who have jobs…even in high profile CS jobs. They don’t ALL have degrees from Stanford.
Some actually have degrees from public universities. Imagine that?
I think you need to figure out your finances. You absolutely won’t be able to take out $100,000 or so in loans for the two years.
You more than likely are not going to find significant financial aid support of any kind for a second bachelors…except private loans for which you will need a cosigner.
Have you thought about getting some kind of job someplace where they might actually help pay for you to attend GRAD school? It won’t be Stanford, most likely…but you might be able to find a company with a tuition benefit. And yes, this also means it will take you longer than two years.
Living in the Stanford area is no bargain either. Do you have free room and board?
@CourtneyThurston do you have any insight on the need to go to a school like Stanford to,get a bachelors degree…a second one…in computer science?
This is about economics, not financial aid. Opportunity cost. The money you will spend to go to Stanford full pay compared to cheaper routes will not be recovered with any boost in salary you may or may not get graduating from Stanford. Your time and money is better spent elsewhere, especially since you will incur crippling debt.
Work full-time while taking foundational courses and then consider grad school? You may not love your job but at the end of the day it pays the bills. I do love my job most of the time but at the end of the day, I keep working to pay the bills, including kid’s college.
There’s a scarcity of qualified people in tech, and especially of “diverse” qualified people.<<<<<<
Again, are you somehow talented in this field? As you seem to feel you are catapulting the first 2 yrs of a CS degree you must have some pretty serious math and CS classes under you belt, looking at http://web.stanford.edu/group/ughb/2016-17/CS_Flowchart_1617w.pdf
Everyone and his dog is starting a CS degree, it would seem. The dearth is in the completion, perhaps. There might well be a reason or 2 for that.
There are some semi-technical grad programs that you could get into. I was thinking of Computational Biology at someplace like Rutgers where they expect students from diverse academic backgrounds. Epidemiology is another semi-technical field.
I don’t think there are many PhD programs in Data Science yet, but there are some Master’s programs that you could go directly into (but these probably wouldn’t be funded).
Go get a job with a tech company doing work in your field of interest. A BA in Psychology can get an entry level job in recruiting, employee relations, training and professional development, internal communications, investor relations, marketing, speechwriting/executive communications. Get one of these jobs. Take advantage of every tuition reimbursement program they offer- certificate courses in programming, a non-degree course in any relevant area at a cheap and local university or community college. Live a thrifty life. Go to every seminar, training program and conference that your boss allows you to. Keep your Linkedin profile up to date and make yourself eat lunch with someone new once a week at work (from different departments, teams and work-streams). Be a good colleague and listen with empathy when the techies complain about the suits and vice-versa.
After two years of working hard, apply to transfer within your company. Have your boss pick up the phone and tell the hiring manager of whatever group you are looking to join, “This is the hardest working member of my team. She has taken advantage of every single opportunity to learn and advance. She wants a role on the tech side of the house and we’d be crazy not to give it to her.”
Done.
Going back to Stanford for another bachelor’s degree is a luxury you cannot afford. There is nothing keeping you from a degree in tech except your own brains, initiative, and hard work.