There has been a lot of talk about the sudden dearth of financing options for international students who would like to attend American MBA programs. Some applicants are questioning whether to apply if they will have no way of paying for the degree. I decided to research the situation and find out just how bad it is.

Several schools have made it clear that they will still be offering no-cosigner loans to international students. For instance, HBS's MBA Admissions Director, Deirdre Leopold, stated outright on her Director's Blog that "International students at HBS will continue to have access to need-based loans without needing to find a US co-signer."

Rose Martinelli, Admissions Director at Chicago Booth, also stated unequivocally in her response (similar to her own blog post): "Chicago Booth is committed to providing financing options for our international students who do not have a US cosigner. I can assure our international students that we will have a new loan program in place by the time students enroll." International applicants considering HBS and Chicago can press onward with renewed optimism.

Rod Garcia, MIT Sloan's Admissions Director, made it clear that Sloan is committed to geographic and economic diversity in the class. Interestingly, Sloan was actually already in talks with other private lenders before Citi ended its Global Assist no-cosigner loan program, putting Sloan ahead of other MBA programs that didn’t anticipate the loan's demise. He expects that the details will be solidified and public by the end of January and that the new arrangements may even be better than the previous ones.

On the other hand, other schools are keeping their cards close to their chests; Stanford and Wharton both would only refer me to their websites. Stanford's site: "Loans offered to international students typically do not need a US co-signer" makes no mention of the sweeping changes in the US credit markets to reassure international applicants. Similarly, Wharton, in its reply to my inquiry, simply states that the school "is exploring a variety of options for making loans available to international students."

Some schools shared particularly appealing information with me. For instance, Tuck will be continuing with its own loan programs – one, DELC, allows a guarantor from outside of the US to guarantee the loan and another, The Tuck 5% loan, requires no co-signer at all. Beth Flye of Kellogg confirmed that Kellogg's no-cosigner loan (Option B of the NU International Loan Program), which it offers to international applicants from the University's own funds, will continue to be offered to all international students who demonstrate the need for it. In contrast, CMU Tepper told me that they haven't offered a no-cosigner loan for years.

In addition to the reassurances that these schools are providing, some schools are increasing the volume of aid they will be offering. Haas notified me that they will be distributing $3.2 million – an increased amount – in aid this year. Tuck has actually doubled the volume of aid they've provided since 2005 and Tepper has doubled the amount of aid it offers over the past five years.

All of the respondents encouraged international MBA applicants to pursue funding and scholarships from within their own countries – from private foundations (for instance, Brazil's Fundacao Estudar and Ling Foundation, Spain's Fundacion Rafael del Pino, La Caixa Scholarship, and Fundacion Ramon Areces, and Mexico's Brockmann Foundation) plus government-sponsored programs that provide loans and financial assistance to students attending graduate programs outside of their home countries.

My research is ongoing, and I hope other programs will provide more information in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime applicants considering applying to HBS, Chicago, Kellogg, Tuck, and MIT can rest assured that their loan options remain open. Applicants to Haas may have a higher chance of receiving a grant  covering a good portion of their educations and not requiring repayment, and Tepper applicants are no worse off than they were last year!

If there's one thing that became clear from my research, it's this: the top MBA programs will do whatever necessary to keep a high percentage of international students in their classrooms. As one admissions director told me, "This is keeping the deans awake at night!" Astute international applicants will take advantage of that determination and submit their applications this year while others wait for the smoke to clear.

Jennifer Bloom has been helping Accepted's international clients earn admission to the top MBA programs for the past 10 years. She is available to help you with your MBA application too.

Although this week everyone seems a little preoccupied -- Thanksgiving, recession, the transition in US administrations -- the MBA admissions world stands still for no one and nothing.

For Round 2+ Applicants

• Admissions directors advise again and again, that good applications require time and reflection and time and rewriting. Now is the time to move forward with your Round 2 applications. Time is a key spice for great essays, and it will rapidly disappear if you are applying to several schools in January. Take advantage of Accepted's November special on MBA admissions consulting and editing: $100 off any order of $2000 or more placed on or before Nov. 30. Buy now and receive expert editing and mentoring. Wait until Monday --  the discount and the long weekend are both gone. (Use coupon code SAVE100 during checkout.)
• Thanks to all the MBA telethon participants. It was our best telethon ever.

For Round 1 Applicants

I previously declared November "International MBA Interview Month," and the world took notice.

• Interview feedback is flowing into the MBA Interview Feedback Database. Check it out before you interview, and please share your interview experience after you do so.
• It's a 10! Contest: Provide your interview feedback and you'll be automatically eligible for valuable prizes - http://www.accepted.com/mba/contest.aspx.
• We are receiving more and more requests for MBA interview preparation.
• MBA I.V.: MBA Interview Questions & Tips, Maxx Duffy's and my ebook containing interview tips and questions organized by school, is 20% off through Nov. 30.
• MBA applicants are signing up in droves for our popular free e-course "MBA Interview Prep."
• The Wharton MBA Interview Chat is online.
• Fellow AIGAC members have also provided excellent interview tips:
  • Clear Admit has a thoughtful post on what to ask the interviewer. I would also like to suggest that you google your interviewer, if you know who it will be ahead of time, or look her up on LinkedIn. A little info may help you connect.
  • MBAMission examines the pros and cons of on-campus and off-campus interviews. I completely agree with MBAMission's conclusion "If time and funds are not at issue, candidates should elect to travel to campus, as they can “kill two birds with one stone” — they can experience and evaluate a target program that is within their reach, all the while revealing their personal interest to the program itself."

For all MBA Applicants

• The MBA Tour is sponsoring a Photo Essay contest that runs from now until Feb. 10. The photo essay should present your view of the future of global business. Lots of great prizes.
• HBS takes a critical look at the MBA degree in "Harvard Business School Discusses Future of the MBA." Other than a slight overdose of "rah-rah Harvard," it is a thoughtful piece.

BusinessWeek released its much awaited biannual, full-time MBA rankings. The rankings showed slight movement: Columbia went from #10 in 06 to #7 in 08. Wharton went from #2 to #4. Kelley climbed from #18 to #15.

Frankly, don't pay too much attention to the absolute ranking or even slight movement. Take advantage of BW's rich, informative database and fantastic resources for applicants. Then choose what's important to you and do your own ranking.

Top 30 U.S. Programs
1 University of Chicago
2 Harvard University
3 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
4 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
5 University of Michigan (Ross)
6 Stanford University
7 Columbia University
8 Duke University (Fuqua)
9 MIT (Sloan)
10 UC Berkeley (Haas)
11 Cornell University (Johnson)
12 Dartmouth (Tuck)
13 NYU (Stern)
14 UCLA (Anderson)
15 Indiana University (Kelley)
16 University of Virginia (Darden)
17 UNC - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
18 Southern Methodist (Cox)
19 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
20 University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
21 Texas - Austin
22 Brigham Young (Marriott)
23 Emory University (Goizueta)
24 Yale University
25 University of Southern California (Marshall)
26 University of Maryland (Smith)
27 University of Washington (Foster)
28 Washington University (Olin)
29 Georgia Tech
30 Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Top 10 Non-U.S. MBA Programs
1 Queens University
2 IE Business School
3 INSEAD
4 Western Ontario (Ivey)
5 London Business School
6 ESADE
7 IMD
8 Toronto (Rotman)
9 IESE
10 Oxford (Saîd)

BW bases its rankings on employer and student surveys as well as school research output or "intellectual capital."  This year for the first time, in a nod to the economic crisis, it is also including a ranking based on ROI and years to recoup the MBA investment. Not surprisingly, European schools, which tend to be one-year programs, are at the top of the chart. More surprising: HBS ranks 50 out of 50 in this chart. I guess assumptions matter.

Deirdre Leopold, Harvard Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid announced that Harvard will continue to provide its MBA students with access to much-needed student loans. Despite the current economic turmoil, students will still have access to loans and financial aid. Additionally, international students will be eligible for the loans without the need for a U.S. cosigner.

In a recent blog post, Leopold declared, "All students - both international and US citizens - will continue to be eligible for Harvard Business School fellowships - the money you don't pay back. This year HBS will award $22 million in need-based fellowships; the average MBA fellowship is $25k per year."

Thus, HBS stands by its need-blind policy in the applicant selection process and continues to encourage students from a wide variety of backgrounds to attend its MBA program.

"Wall St. meets Campus Commons" could be an alternate title for this post.

Harvard became the latest university to announce the loss of its CitiAssist loan program. Citibank stopped accepting loan applications on Oct. 6 at Harvard.

International students are hardest hit by the ending of this program. It had provided loans to them without requiring a domestic co-signor.  That requirement frequently is a formidable barrier for international students wanting to attend US graduate programs.

CitiAssist has also been canceled at MIT, Michigan, Cornell, and other top graduate programs.