As an international who needs a Full ride, do I look into Merit scholarships OR Financial aid?

<p>My stats are:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 Unweighted | 4.8 Weighted
SAT: 2300+
E.Cs: 1. Founded and developed a not-for-profit website that works to promote local content
2. Wrote tutorials on coding for a local online coding school.
3. Part-time work as SEO article writer (Search engine optimization)
...So basically some nerdy stuff.</p>

<p>Honours/Awards: Nothing special, once got a country highest in accounting back in O-level but that's it.</p>

<p>Ideally, I would like to apply to a school like U of Miami or U of Illinois. They have great Full-ride merit scholarships but I don't think I could get them. So, I'm looking into Automatic Full rides at unis like Louisiana Tech and Alabama state. But I haven't been looking into Financial aid since they always say things like "Financial aid is limited/unavailable for internationals". So, should I stick to looking for automatic merit scholarships or do I have a chance at Full financial aid or non-automatic Full ride scholarships and if so at which universities?</p>

<p>You will need to check each college for their policies on awarding any time of aid, merit or need based to international students. Some do, some don’t, and some do limited aid for international students.</p>

<p>Alabama’s merit awards are for all. </p>

<p>What is your intended major?</p>

<p>There are colleges that will give need based aid to internationals. Do you have any idea what colleges estimate your need at? Because when they give need based aid, they will give you nearly everything if you are destitute and get admitted. But if they determine that your family should pay, say, $5,000 per year based on your income and assets, then you are not going to get that portion covered except by a full ride merit aid–pretty hard to come by. For your information, even at ‘meets need’ colleges, middle income families here are expected to pay a large portion calculated on current income. It isn’t expected that you will really put in 25% of your income, but that you have saved some, maybe a lot, to put in and you will take loans for some and some will come from current income.</p>

<p>Are you sure the Miami and Illinois full ride are available to internationals? If so, then you should apply to some like that in addition to the limited automatic ones out there. If you have true full need then apply to some that will meet need. Brown, for instance is need aware but will meet your need if you are accepted. 6 colleges are need blind, meets full need. The are super selective, but they are rich.</p>

<p>6 colleges are need-blind, meet-full-need for all internationals, that is. Quite a few more are that that way for some internationals. I believe UChicago was (at least back in 2011 or so). Don’t know if they are any more.</p>

<p>@thumper1‌ I have no intended major, but I want to study something in the Computer science/Engineering area, so lot’s of options. That is one of the reasons I want a U.S. college, they let you experiment in your first year. </p>

<p>@BrownParent‌ I’m certain colleges will not expect any family contribution. My parents make less than 15K/year.
They have some savings though and can probably pay for residual COA after a full-ride(which seems to be about 3-5K/year) but that’s it. Also, my concern is not finding scholarships or colleges that offer aid, it is which one am I more likely to receive as an international; financial aid from a good college(since only good ones meet full need) or a full-ride merit scholarship from a worse college.</p>

<p>Being certain that “colleges will not expect any family contribution” is not going to help you. Colleges definitely look at parents’ contribution. They do not owe anyone an education and they are not charities. They simply can’t afford to give all poor students free educations. You should only be looking at the few schools that do give generous scholarships to international students. </p>

<p>“Alabama state”</p>

<p>???</p>

<p>There is an Alabama State Univ…and there is a University of Alabama. Apply to U of Alabama for its awards for your stats. ASU is not the right school for you. </p>

<p>You say “full ride”, but do you mean full tuition? or tuition, room, board, books? U of Alabama doesn’t give full rides.</p>

<p>edit…I see that your family can’t pay anything. That will make it tough. Even the so-called full rides that you mention will NOT be affordable. Your family WILL BE EXPECTED to cover your int’l travel, your personal expenses, AND your health insurance…these will cost about $7-8k per year…if you get a “free ride” of tuition, fees, room, board and books. </p>

<p>As an int’l, you will have to show funds for all of those costs (travel, personal expenses, health insurance, etc) to get your visa. </p>

<p>“I’m certain colleges will not expect any family contribution. My parents make less than 15K/year.”</p>

<p>You are wrong that those schools won’t expect your parents to pay. Those are FAFSA only schools. They won’t even be asking what your parents’ income is. Won’t be a consideration. </p>

<p>@KKmama‌ I am only looking at the few schools that give out generous scholarships/aid. I am not some entitled brat who thinks everyone owes him. I was referring to colleges that promise to meet 100% of demonstrated need.</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids‌ I was referring to colleges that promise to meet 100% of demonstrated need for admitted international students. I understand there will still be an amount of money that they will expect, but my parents have assured me they will meet that requirement(7-8K/year) as you say IF I can provide for most of it myself from the second year onwards (on-campus jobs). Do you think that is possible?</p>

<p>Also my original question remains, under these circumstances will I be better off looking for merit-scholarships OR do I have a better chance at financial aid?</p>

<p>I don’t think any foreign student has a “better chance” of getting into a school that meets need when there is a lot of need. Few schools meet need for int’ls…and of those that do, many are “need aware”…which makes it harder for those who have large need…such as you.</p>

<p>You need to aim for BOTH…huge merit and full need schools. </p>

<p>If your parents earn less than $15k per year, how will they be able to contribute $7k per year? </p>

<p>@mom2collegekids‌ They have savings. 15K seems very less from your perspective but over here it’s actually pretty comfortable (cost of living differences). I don’t quite get what you mean by “both merit and full need schools”. Do you mean schools that offer both merit and need-based aid or do you mean I should apply to both types of schools and if it’s the former do you know of any schools like that?</p>

<p>Apply to both types of schools.</p>

<p>What are your choices in your home country, BTW? Keep in mind that a lot of PhD programs (and some Masters programs) in engineering & CS in the US are funded (they waive your tuition fees and pay you a stipend to be a TA or RA).</p>

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<p>Don’t be so sure. These colleges WILL expect a student contribution of at least several thousand dollars. These are generous schools, but they DO expect the students to do their part. </p>

<p>So, expect that you WILL have some costs yourselves.</p>

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<p>If you want to attend college in the US, you need to look at both directions.</p>

<p>Check each school in these lists to see if the full ride scholarships are available to international students:
<a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #46 by ucbalumnus - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p4.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But then also check net price calculators to see if other (typically highly selective) schools will give sufficient aid to an international student.</p>

<p>When you need the money and want to have some choices, it’s wise to cast a wide net. There are some schools that do give out merit money based on gpa and test scores, where you are pretty sure to get the awards as featured. There are schools that guarantee to meet full need, and with a low family income/ asset situation, if you get accepted, you are likely to get money. Getting accepted to such schools is the challenge, and also what their definition of need is. If your family operates a business, for example, the way your family may count income and assets may widely differ. Also, even the most generous schools tend to have an expected student contribution that often comes to several thousand dollars. If your family is truly struggling, coming up with that may be an issue depending on what the work situation is in your country. Many US kids work to get that money or borrow it with student loans which you are not entitled to get. </p>

<p>The most important thing is to make sure the school has any funds available to you. SOme schools out and out exclude internationals from fin aid and their merit awards. If you need money, it’s a waste of your time to apply to such schools. Your stats are high enough that you have a better chance than most students in making the cuts even at schools that are need aware for internationals, and so you should give them a try too, since the very few schools that are need blind in admissions for internationals are highly selective so that final odds in getting any might be less there, when you take into account the admissions statistics. You have to be accepted to have any chance at the money.</p>

<p>@cptofthehouse‌ Thanks for taking the time to clarify all that. I will try apply to as many a colleges as I can. </p>

<p>@PurpleTitan‌ Don’t worry, I’ve got a couple of choices at home. I’m not completely dependent on something that in all probability will not work out. But I’m giving it a shot anyway.</p>

<p>Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Don’t bother to apply where there is very little money or to too many schools where the odds are miniscule. Remember it costs money to apply too.</p>