Hi. I’m looking for an university to enroll the next year and study finance or management. I’m an international student and seeking universities which provide any kind of financial aid to international students, because i’m coming from quite a poor family. Any recommendations? And can anybody who’s already been through all this share with his/her experience.
Thanks for your attention. I’m looking forward to your replies! ?
How much can you contribute each year? While a few “full ride” scholarships are available to exceptional students, it is extremely rare to find an international student who is able to study in the US for less than $15,000 per year. Travel costs and visa fees alone will eat up much of that.
Not much, maybe 5k-ish. I consider a student loan as an option in order to pay the rest after financial aid ( i have an american citizen co-singer).
What are your SAT/ACT, and TOEFL scores? What are your extracurricular activities?
Also looking for universities which don’t require SAT for international students, that’s quite a lot of them, as far as i know. I’m taking TOELF in 2 weeks, but i expect somewhere around 90-100. I have some of extracurriculars like UNESCO club, take part in united nations modulation, volunteer as a guide for foreigners in my city, volunteer in a dog shelter, additional language, swimming for 5 years as well as some academic achievements and awards in english as well as in other fields .
For an international student with no SAT/ACT scores and who can only contribute $5,000/year…
University of Chicago. Your chances are less than 1%, though.
So, what you are saying is that it’s gonna be impossible for me to go to any university at all considering my financial situation? Okey, but what about student loan? What if i’m gonna take a loan, what universities you’d still recommend to try to apply if i even have any chances to get anywhere…
I understand that i have no chance to get full-ride scholarship, but still is it any possibility that I at least can some part of cost covered?What about fellowship ect?
There is very little financial aid for international students. So you need to prepare yourself for a lot of research and a lot of applications, because to boost your chances, you will need to apply to many different kinds of schools all across the US. Google schools that are “test optional,” start reading about their admissions criteria and their financial aid policies. But in reality, no one here can tell you whether you can get a school to give you enough financial aid to attend. It depends on your grades, on your achievements, and on who else is competing against you for that money. If you read through stories on this forum you’ll see that every year, brilliant international students who apply to American schools are disappointed that they either didn’t get into any of their schools – or didn’t get enough financial aid to attend.
@Sidedish0: Google is your friend. Many websites that list US colleges and universities that offer financial aid to International students. Unfortunately I cannot link due to CC TOS rules. You need to do your research and look up each schools financial aid website to determine if you qualify.
Do you have an geographic preferences? Here are some examples I got off one website but you need to check eligibility for each individual school.
Arizona
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Arkansas
Harding University
California
Alliant International University
Azusa Pacific University
California Lutheran University
California State University San Bernardino
Claremont McKenna College
Dominican University of California
Marymount College, Palos Verdes
Menlo College
Notre Dame de Namur University
Occidental College
Pepperdine University
Saint Mary’s College of California
Stanford University
University of San Diego
University of Southern California
Whittier College
I’ve already done a lot of research and still do. In some point i just hoped, that maybe I would find somebody on this form who had the same situation as i do. One thing is when you do research and read different articles about financial aid and universities which are based on date, but that’s completely different story when you can read the real stories of real people, who really dealt with all this.
There are a lot of stories from students on this site, but if you notice, almost all of them have SAT and ACT scores. Your situation is made more difficult because you don’t have those. Many of the private “test optional” schools are very competitive, and very selective, so you would have to have something extraordinary in your application to catch their attention – and to be awarded money. The less selective schools aren’t likely to give out a lot of financial aid. Finally, most public colleges and universities – meant for legal residents of their states – as a policy don’t give aid to international students. So when researching schools, one of the first things you should check if it’s private or public.
When you did research, Wich colleges do you like?
Just to try to check if those works for you, please give us a couple of names.
OP needs a school that has need blind admissions (meaning ability to pay is not a factor in admission decision), meets full need for international students (rare), and is test optional. There are only a handful of schools with both of the first two requirements, and they’re all extremely competitive. Add test-optional, and it’s a “needle in a haystack”.
Schools that offer need-based scholarships tend to be selective or are not likely to be need blind. Schools that offer merit scholarships often require SAT/ACT scores.
OP, your best bet is to take the SAT or ACT. A very high score could bring merit aid that would bring the cost of attendance down to $20,000/year (with his family contribution of $5k going towards travel, visa, etc.). If your American co-signer doesn’t balk at an $80k loan, you might have a shot.
How much is your American cosigner willing to borrow for you each year? If it’s $60k you’ll have a lot more options than if it’s $10k.
You mean that i preferably should look at private institutions? But from all the listings that i saw there are a lot of public universities and on theirs sites they mostly say that they provide international students with financial aid.
The majority of state schools will give FA priority to in-state students since residents pay taxes to help fund these state schools. There are some state schools that will give International students some FA such as University of Alabama. I would look more deeply into private schools and not just focus on state schools. All the schools I listed in post #9 are private colleges/universities.
I can’t find post #9, could you please send me a link for that post?
“But from all the listings that i saw there are a lot of public universities and on theirs sites they mostly say that they provide international students with financial aid.”
Some public universities will provide financial aid to international student IF they have a high enough SAT or ACT score, and a promising application to go with them. I can’t think of any state school that will give you a full ride, though, not as an international, and not without excellent test scores. Alabama (and maybe Montana State University) might get you to the $20k range, but they are not “test optional”, and that’s probably about the best you’ll be able to do at a public. Have you run a Net Price Calculator on any school that interests you yet?
Does your country’s government offer loans to students who want to study overseas? You might get a better deal that way, unless you know how high your co-signer is willing to go.
@Sidedish0: Here are the California schools I listed in post #9
California
Alliant International University
Azusa Pacific University
California Lutheran University
California State University San Bernardino
Claremont McKenna College
Dominican University of California
Marymount College, Palos Verdes
Menlo College
Notre Dame de Namur University
Occidental College
Pepperdine University
Saint Mary’s College of California
Stanford University
University of San Diego
University of Southern California
Whittier College
I am sure there a several more the might give decent FA to International students such as Santa Clara University, Concordia of Irvine, University of Redlands, University of La Verne but you need to check each schools website. As stated by several posters, having SAT/ACT scores will make the hunt for FA a bit easier.