<p>Where do most of you guys get your financial aid from? </p>
<p>I'm getting worried because each and every single college website that I have visited says that there is limited financial aid for international students. My SAT scores are really average, my parents cannot solely afford to pay for my college education and I really don't know what to do!</p>
<p>HELP!</p>
<p>Poorpocket, there are 3000 + colleges in the USA. You are visiting the wrong websites. Widen your horizons. Look for those who are interested in increasing their international enrollment and offer programs that you are interested in. It is as easy as that. Your international experience and viewpoint will trump average SAT scores. However, you will not be offered more than 1/2 tuition unless your grades etc. are stellar. Find schools whose overall cost is low. Look at the Liberal Arts colleges and stay away from the big state schools unless they are in out of the way places like for instance Wyoming where costs and tuition are very reasonable.</p>
<p>It's difficult. I would say that state schools are usually cheaper than a small liberal arts school (which will charge 25k+ for tuition alone) whereas even out of state tuition is lower. It's also hard to say b/c if you feel passionately that a school is a fit for you and has a program you want you should be reduced to going to the backwaters of wyoming just so you can afford it.</p>
<p>It is such an uphill battle being an international student. Sure there is a select few who went to an American school in their home country, have no problems paying, etc. etc. But the majority of us have to work so hard to study in a school system that does not prepare us for SAT's, ACT's, SAT's II's, fill out applications that are unfamiliar and have no help base around us to ask questions (like a gc), try and make it seem like our marks are good enough when we are battling massive grade inflation in the states, and for some, it's doing all this when english is a second language. And once you get all that done, you have to try and find the money somewhere to attend the school. And then you have immigration forms to deal with! So all in all, I think those of us who are international students and do it all anyway, are a rare breed of person. I might just be waxing lyrical but I think it's true.</p>
<p>So to answer your question, I have no idea where I'll get the money. I'm very fortunate that my mother is able to contribute somewhat, it's unfortunate that my 100k college fund collapsed when my blue chip stocks collapsed, and I will most likely be stuck with a 100k+ loan when everything is said and done. But if I die when I'm 25, at least I'll know I've lived my life the way I wanted to and did something I was passionate about.</p>
<p>phew.</p>
<p>Bless you :D</p>
<p>Hopefully this is of any use, and you'll can decipher it. The colleges are in the order of highest average aid to intels. However, some give high awards, but to very few people. In the first one, Skidmore college, in NY, the total cost was 39,735, total intel students were 28, out of which 1 was aided with average aid 37250.</p>
<p>Go through the list and hope it helps. cant paste the whole the whole thing here. Could email it to anyone who wants.</p>
<p>Blad1
American Colleges and Universities with Aid for International Students - 2004
COLLEGE STATE COST OFATTENDANCENUMBER
INTER'L
STDS</p>
<p>NUMBER
AIDED AVERAGE AWARD
Skidmore College NY $ 3 9.735 28 1 $ 3 7.250
Mount Holyoke College MA $ 4 0.168 331 241 $ 3 4.550
Columbia U-Engineering College NY $ 4 0.745 134 35 $ 3 3.935
Connecticut College CT $ 3 7.900 140 68 $ 3 3.747
Williams College MA $ 3 8.370 110 101 $ 3 3.724
Amherst College MA $ 4 0.514 73 52 $ 3 3.675
Columbia U.-Columbia College NY $ 4 0.650 202 70 $ 3 3.300
Bates College ME $ 3 9.600 111 76 $ 3 3.278
Colby College ME $ 3 9.520 108 98 $ 3 3.191
Swarthmore College PA $ 3 9.616 86 48 $ 3 3.090
Wesleyan University CT $ 4 0.206 154 47 $ 3 3.040
Occidental College CA $ 3 8.818 58 32 $ 3 2.841
St. Lawrence University NY $ 3 7.745 80 77 $ 3 2.301
Kenyon College OH $ 3 6.410 35 35 $ 3 1.938
Colgate University NY $ 3 8.575 138 126 $ 3 1.898
Mass. Inst. Of Technology MA $ 41.030 343 326 $ 3 1.524
Middlebury College VT $ 3 9.850 191 152 $ 3 1.471
Haverford college PA $ 4 0.210 30 9 $ 3 1.036
Sara Lawrence College NY $ 4 3.086 25 10 $ 3 0.696
Harvard/Radcliffe Colleges MA $ 4 1.439 502 349 $ 3 0.558
Bowdin College ME $ 3 9.800 54 41 $ 3 0.475
Regis College MA $ 3 1.880 15 1 $ 3 0.275
Pomona College CA $ 3 9.580 30 16 $ 3 0.000
Princeton University NJ $ 3 9.608 347 190 $ 3 0.000
California Inst. of Technology CA $ 3 6.627 72 46 $ 2 9.832
Brown University RI $ 4 0.480 346 104 $ 2 9.670
Hampshire College MA $ 3 7.931 37 27 $ 2 9.629
Bryn Mawr College PA $ 3 8.640 103 81 $ 2 9.484
Dartmouth College NH $ 3 7.996 191 136 $ 2 9.257
Trinity College CT $ 3 9.947 46 39 $ 2 9.224
Harvey Mudd College CA $ 3 9.780 19 11 $ 2 9.025
Union College NY $ 3 8.491 46 36 $ 2 8.965
Lafayette College PA $ 3 7.771 110 99 $ 2 8.703
Vassar College NY $ 3 9.200 106 97 $ 2 8.573
Lehigh University PA $ 3 6.840 136 24 $ 2 8.371
Yale University CT $ 3 9.520 421 181 $ 2 8.178
Providence College RI $ 3 0.679 27 40 $ 2 8.000
Smith College MA $ 4 1.254 172 114 $ 2 7.803
University of Pennsylvania PA $ 4 0.596 896 172 $ 2 7.714
Gettysburg College PA $ 3 7.096 46 40 $ 2 7.500
Hamilton College NY $ 3 7.560 62 56 $ 2 7.467
St. John's College NM $ 3 8.135 8 3 $ 2 7.256
University of the South TN $ 3 2.420 16 15 $ 2 7.101
Cornell University NY $ 4 0.699 969 47 $ 2 7.021
University of Scranton PA $ 3 3.053 22 15 $ 2 6.896
Dickinson College PA $ 3 7.915 32 18 $ 2 6.878
Georgetown University DC $ 4 0.697 277 20 $ 2 6.500
Wellesley College MA $ 3 9.516 156 106 $ 2 6.202
DePauw University IN $ 3 3.150 35 26 $ 2 6.159
Whitman College WA $ 3 3.526 29 28 $ 2 5.900
Reed College OR $ 4 0.200 42 32 $ 2 5.614
University of Chicago IL $ 4 1.620 334 19 $ 2 5.572</p>
<p>Actually from what I've seen so far, the large/prestigious/private universities are the most generous to international students. For example, Harvard, yale, princeton treats int. same as citizens and fullfill 100% of your need. But if you are looking at public universities, they are give preference to students from their own state and to other americans. They are public so they serve their taxpayers -- makes sense. The other option is try to go for merit based scholarship, or try to find international scholarships. Good luck in your search!</p>