<p>Ok, I'm a little confused here. If the website of a college says that it does not offer need based aid to international students but merit based aid is available, what does it mean??????? Is aid available for international students or not??????</p>
<p>It depends on exactly how it’s phrased, but merit-based aid (such as aid that depends on a certain test score or GPA) is often available to international students. Not always, but often.</p>
<p>Yes, it means that they may decide to give you merit aid. No guarantee, just based on how much they want you. Don’t confuse it with meeting need.</p>
<p>So basically it means that colleges will give me aid provided my stats are good enough but there’s no guarantee they’ll meet full demonstrated need, right???</p>
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<p>Some colleges will give you aid depending on your stats, and only a couple of them guarantee that they’ll meet full demonstrated need (and all of those are really selective / hard to get into, think Harvard, Yale, Princeton). You should never assume that a college will give you any merit-based financial aid unless they say so and they give you specifics (ie the name of the scholarship, what grades and scores you need to get it, what grades you need to keep it, and any requirements to access it).</p>
<p>If the college (one that meets full need) does NOT give need based aid to international students that is that…</p>
<p>If they DO give merit aid to international students, they are NOT necessarily going to meet your full need. Merit scholarships typically do not look at financial need and the requirement to meet that need. SO…you are right…a merit award probably won’t meet full need. </p>
<p>And as others have pointed out…no guarantee you’ll receive a merit award.</p>