Letter From Juno’s Founder To The Class Of 2025 MBA Admits

Hello, Class of 2025 MBA Admits –

Congratulations on getting into business school! 🎉 

You’ve worked hard to get here, and your achievements have paid off. Now, prepare to embark on an exhilarating MBA adventure that will fly by in no time.

Just a few years ago, I was in your position – eagerly anticipating the start of my MBA journey, and believe me, it didn’t disappoint!

This is your chance to seize every opportunity that comes your way. Dive into networking, find your dream career, forge lifelong friendships, and dare to take risks!

If you’re anything like me (and most people), you might feel a mix of excitement and anxiety about the costs of business school. I’ve been there! It motivated me to create a solution.

Planning is key; make early sound financial decisions to know what’s in your budget and what’s not.

If you are looking into actionable items, the proceeding list is what I’d follow if I were to start the process again.

Find Scholarships and Grants

The first place to start is looking for scholarships and grants. Granted, the largest source of scholarships comes with your admissions office – sometimes schools are willing to negotiate a bit, no harm in asking!

There are other outside sources that you tap on. Affinity groups such as Forte Foundation provide a good resource for scholarships.

Finally, there are a bunch of smaller scholarships available. We have grouped as many as possible here at joinjuno.com/search-mba-scholarships.

 

See if you want to tap into your savings:

Next, take stock of your savings and consider using them to pay for your education. Some people prefer to use their savings to have lower student loan debt. Other people prefer to stay accruing returns while in school, given that their rate of return is greater than the interest they pay on loans.

Me? When I went to school, interest rates were lower, so it was easier to max out loans and not touch my savings. Given my risk tolerance and current investment opportunities,  I would probably do the same today.

Consider all your loan options:

Now the most tricky part. Student loans

If you are a US Citizen or Permanent resident, you can select between Private and Federal loans (or a combination of both). Consider both and see what makes more sense based on your current situation.

When considering Federal Loans:

Consider that undergraduate federal loans are very different from graduate federal loans. Most blogs generally speak about undergrad federal loans, and the grad ones are not nearly as good as the ones available for undergrad.

The big cons for many graduate students are the high rates and origination fees. Rates for the upcoming year will be set up in May, based on a spread over the ten-year treasury rate.
Unfortunately, no one knows where rates will be in the future; as of 3/23/2022, if the Grad Plus rate is set up today, it will be in the 8s% + a 4.2% origination fee.

When considering Private Loans:

Private loans should be less expensive than Federal Loans. Many MBA students are eligible for significantly better rates based on their credit scores. For example, our current deals guarantee that our rate will always be lower than the grad plus rate.

Weight in your decision when you plan to prepay/refinance your loans and whether you plan to use any of the Federal Loan protections. Federal loans could be a good option if you are not eligible for lower Private Loans APRs.

 

If you are still stressed out, here are some strategies that can help

Create a budget: Develop a budget for your tuition, fees, books, and living expenses. Try to be true to it and updated

Living more frugally: Consider cutting some expenses during your time in school. This may mean skipping some MBA trips or finding more affordable housing options. You will see some classmates flying to a different destination every weekend, but that doesn’t mean you are out of luck if you are more budget conscious – they are great places to know in your city.

Know that you can prepay early: If you have already taken out loans but are stressed about being over-leveraged, you can use part of your internship income or signing bonuses to prepay your loans. Most student loan lenders do not charge prepayment fees, which is always the case with our negotiation deal. Don’t discount refinancing: Once you graduate and start getting an income, you are less risky to lenders, and therefore, they are willing to offer you lower interest rates. This is not a guaranteed option, though; interest rates move for exogenous factors and could be higher when you graduate.

Remember that you are not alone: Most MBAs take massive debt. We run a survey last year, and many MBAs take the full cost of attendance in student loans.

Join us to negotiate better rates: Juno – the company I founded to negotiate better loan rates for MBA students like us. Through the power of group negotiation, we’ve consistently secured the most competitive student loan terms for top MBA students. Joining Juno is free and doesn’t lock you into any loan commitments. The more people who sign up, the more negotiating leverage we have with our network of lenders. If you prefer to book some time to speak one-on-one with us, you can do it for free here.

Remember that your MBA is an investment in yourself and your future. While the financial aspects can be stressful, taking proactive steps to manage your finances can help you achieve your goals and minimize your debt.

Congrats again on your admittance – you are about to get the experience of a lifetime!

Nikhil, HBS 2020