I am an international student (from the Non-EU region) and I have a Ph.D. Offer in the area of Information Systems from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA. The program was supposed to commence in Fall 2020. But, having received no funding for the Ph.D. Program, I am compelled to defer the offer to next year. And, I am allowed to defer the offer only for one year.
So, my question is, to which session - Spring 2021 or Fall 2021 - should I defer the Ph.D. offer, so that the Ph.D. funding competition (in the form of TA (Teaching Assistantships)/RA (Research Assistantships)/GA (Graduate Assistantships)) is relatively less competitive?
Or, are the chances of receiving Ph.D. funding independent of the session in which the program is supposed to commence?