<p>I'm an Italian student, 20 years old.
I would like to start my undergraduate in Chemistry in the US, my GPA (high school) is 3.8, my TOEFL score is 89, and I will take the SAT soon.
The income of my parents is about 200,000 dollars but they don't want to pay a lot for my education in the US (and I can understand them, because in Europe it's very cheap).</p>
<p>I would like to know if it's possible to study in a good college and taking some "MERIT" scholarships, because I don't think my parents will pay over 40,000 dollars for year...</p>
<p>no man, you didn’t understand what I said, my parents don’t wanna pay much money, in Europe I could study without pay, so they advice me to stay in Europe, but I wanna study in the US</p>
<p>Ah, OK, thought you meant they wouldn’t pay more than $40k.</p>
<p>To get really big-time merit aid you have to be a superlative student, and it’s hard to say where you fall on that scale without knowing ACT/SAT scores. Honestly, do not put all your eggs in that basket. Full-ride merit scholarships are exceedingly rare.</p>
<p>With an income like that, you can only plan on merit aid for international students, so no need-based aid. </p>
<p>Look for colleges & universities that offer merit to internationals & a sticker price that seems reasonable after subtracting merit (hopeful merit aid). </p>
<p>For example a school that is well over 50K and you receive 10K in merit, that probably isn’t going to help you very much! Plus you would have travel expenses. </p>
<p>You need to find out how much your parents will pay. Even if you got some scholarship money, your parents would still have to pay a good amount of money. It’s VERY UNLIKELY that you would find a free ride. At most, you might get a half tuition scholarship or something like that. That might still require your parents to pay $20k per year or more…plus international travel costs and personal expenses (another $5k or so).</p>
<p>Most schools don’t give merit scholarships to int’ls…and even fewer schools give big ones.</p>
<p>You’re also at a disadvantage that you’re already out of high school. Have you taken any college classes anywhere?</p>
<p>You need to read through everything at [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/) Then you need to pay a visit to the advising center closest to where you live. There are two in Italy. [EducationUSA</a> - Find an Advising Center](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/Italy]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/Italy) The counselors there will be able to help you with the whole process. They will be able to tell you where students like you have been admitted in recent years, and whether or not they received any merit aid.</p>
<p>Evidently Alfred University (NY) gives merit aid to international students. </p>
<p>USNWR’s Great Schools Great Prices
Fiske Guide 2011
Fiske Best Value
Princeton Review’s Best 373
Princeton Review Best 300 Business Schools
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Art & Design
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Engineering </p>
<p>With the Cost of Attendance at about 40k (depending on your major) and a merit award of 14k, that brings the price down, for someone who is not eligible for need-based aid.</p>
<p>thanks guys for your advices.
I saw that you wrote very famous universities. But I was thinking… It’s not more difficult to get a (almost) full scholarship in a very prestigious college? Is not better to choose something in the middle? I don’t know… It’s just an Undergraduate in Chemistry, is not a Phd or Master</p>
<p>b@r!um who often contributes to threads in the International Students Forum, has written about applying to less-famous colleges and universities that do offer one or two big scholarships each year for international students. Many students do not spend the time required to find those colleges and universities because it is so much work. However, every single year those scholarships are awarded to someone, so maybe next year it will be you!</p>
<p>You can use [College</a> MatchMaker - Type of School](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board) to find colleges and universities that offer financial aid to international students. If you click on the tab that reads “Costs & Financial Aid”, and then scroll down to find where you can ask to search for institutions that offer this kind of aid. You can refine your search further for your major, and for other items that are important for you by clicking on the other tabs and selecting those factors. Then you will need to visit each website to find out what the criteria are for these scholarships. <a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board;