Non-Allowable Budget Adjustments

Federal regulations specifically state that we cannot include consumer debt (i.e., credit cards, consumer loans, car loans) in the student budget. Therefore, we are unable to increase your cost of attendance to demonstrate additional financial aid eligibility to assist you in making payments for such debt.

We strongly encourage and suggest you do your best to repay consumer debt, before you come to Stanford. Moreover, we will not be able to decrease the value of your assets by the amount of consumer debt.

Though most U.S. government educational loans have deferment options for students enrolled at Stanford GSB, some educational loans may not have this option. Therefore, we will not consider this a debt against your assets. We encourage you to try to repay prior educational loans, which cannot be deferred while attending Stanford GSB, before entering the program.

There are many ways to meet the Global Experience Requirement (GER). However, the only programs for which the expenses can be allowable budget adjustments are for Global Study Trips, Social Innovation Study Trips, or the Stanford Tsinghua Exchange Program (STEP). Other options to meet the GER are non-allowable budget adjustments, such as Global Management Immersion Experience (GMIX) or international internships. Some GMIX participants may receive Stanford GSB subsidies. Be aware that students choosing to go on additional Global Study Trips or Social Innovation Study Trips that do not fulfill the GER are non-allowable budget adjustments.

Occasionally students ask if club fees or other extraneous expenses can be included in the cost of attendance because they feel that these expenses are a part of the experience at Stanford GSB. Although some of these activities are sanctioned by the administration, these expenses are not considered for financial aid purposes because they are not required for all students as a part of the curriculum. Because Stanford GSB does value these activities, we would like to give you some average costs for such expenses to assist in your personal budget planning: