<p>Hi, I got admitted to the University of St Andrews and a variety of different schools in the UK. I desperately want to go because they offer the perfect major but I don't want to take out 36,000 USD a year (ultimately $ 144,000 after 4 years without any sort of financial help). Private student loans scare the crap out of me and I don't want to be crushed under their iron boot when I turn 22. I might be able to float the first year if I can win enough scholarships and financial aid to float the next 3 years ( one year at a time, I guess). I was wondering how any other international US students find financial aid or find some sort of way to afford their time there. I know that UK universities use international students as cash cows but the education there is significantly better. Please, I need all the help I can get in this.</p>
<p>This isn’t going to help much, but many of the English courses are 3 years not 4 (the Scottish, such as StA, are all 4 years). That knocks a year off. Depending on where they are located, and on their specifics, many of them are less expensive than StAs as well. Unfortunately, and I’m sorry if this sounds unkind, this is planning you needed to do before now- there really isn’t much in the UK in the way of funding for you. If you qualify for financial aid through FAFSA you can use that for funding uni in the UK. </p>
<p>Also, with all due respect to UK unis, it is unfair to unis in both the US and UK to say that uniformly the education there is significantly better. </p>
<p>By the time that I got my acceptance to the University of St Andrews, literally all of the deadlines for scholarships had passed. I sent over 20 emails to almost any person I could contact about finance over there, so I believe I did more “planning” than you give me credit for. I come from a single parent house-hold, said parent being out of the workforce for 30 + years to take care of my siblings and myself. I have also completed my FAFSA, which if you have ever filled out a FAFSA, it is kind of rigged due to being based off last years taxes and not on your current or future financial state, and I qualified for the Stafford loan. I, however, would like to stay away from loans because I personally believe that they are of the devil. I stated that I would be able to pay for the first year but all proceeding years I’d need a lot of assistance. And I believe that UK schools are better for me than US schools due to their structure. It was not a commentary on the state of the US education system, which is in fact struggling due to the 1 trillion dollars of student loan debt and the widespread inability to pay for college, but I’m sure that the UK schools have their problems as well. </p>