Financial aid for international students.

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I'm an international student and am thinking of applying to colleges in the U.S. English is my first language, and I'm entering my junior year of high school next year. Recently I started asking myself how my family and/or I would pay for four years of college. So I was wondering whether colleges give scholarships or financial aid of any sort to international students. I've heard that this is a rare occurence, but I thought I'd check nonetheless. </p>

<p>I wouldn't mind posting my scores or anything else if it is relevant to the question.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>When you make your list of colleges, you need to check if they give ANY financial aid to international students. Also look and see if they have merit scholarships that you could realistically get. If the school has neither, and you and your family cannot afford it, take it off of your list. </p>

<p>When you finish the process, you should have a list of schools that do give finanicial/merit money to international students. You then have to assess your chances of getting enough money out of each of these schools. When you get ready to apply, you should have a bunch of safety schools that would love to have international students and would be happy to pay you to come there because your stats and interests would benefit the school, some schools where you have a shot at their aid and some merit scholarships and some reach schools where admissions and/or funds are unlikely but you really like the schools. Then go for it. Be advised that the schools that are your “safeties” are probably schools that are unknown and may not be where you want to go. Look at Momfromtexas’s thread to find out what sorts of school you should seek for those possibilities. </p>

<p>Some of the most selective colleges are need blind to international students as well as US applicants, and also treat internationals the same way in distributing financial aid money. A school like Harvard, falls into this category. However, the chances of getting accepted are very small since the competition is very steep. The top students from all over compete for a spot. On the other hand, a school I know, Illinois Institute of Technology, had some nice merit money for international students with high stats, and a number of foreign students go there to take advantage of this find. Also look for the less expensive school. SUNY Buffalo has many international student, in part, because of the reasonable price tag as well as its strong programs with no real ceiling in complexity due to the graduate programs in a number of majors.</p>

3

<p>moonplace,</p>

<p>You should start by reading through everything, and I do indeed mean everything, at [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.state.gov/]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.state.gov/) Then make an appointment with the counselors at the Advising Center closest to you. If you can’t visit in person, find out if they can help you by phone or email. The counselors there are expert at helping students from your country find good places to study in the US. They will be able to tell you which colleges and universities are most likely to offer financial aid and scholarships to students like you.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>

4

<p>The economic times are very hard – for colleges too. You might do well to speak with your school staff and find out if any recent graduates came to the US. They may know of programs from your country to this one. A recent graduate could also answer a lot of your informal questions and make you feel more comfortable with the process. </p>

<p>Some countries will pay for their best and brightest students to come here (China, for example). If your country has such a program, it could make a huge difference – you would be applying as a “full pay” student – not as a “hey, can you give me an education” applicant.</p>

5

<p>Very few schools give aid to int’ls. Some will give scholarships to int’ls, but usually not for most of the costs.</p>

<p>Even if a school does give aid to int’ls, it may not give any or much to YOU if the school determines that your family can pay much or all of costs.</p>

<p>Does your family have a good income and assets?</p>

<p>Find out from your family how much they will pay each year. that will likely determine whether you can study in the US or not.</p>

<p>What are your stats? Have you taken the SAT or ACT?</p>

6

<p>mom2collegekids,</p>

<p>We’ve always been fairly well off in my family, but there’s no possible way we could pay for 4 years of college without some sort of bank loan or scholarship. Here are my stats (bear in mind that our school system is not the same as the U.S. one; we don’t do APs, you can’t really become “president” of anything, we don’t do honors classes or GPA, etc.):</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
-English 1st Language and Literature: A, Math: B+, German III: A, Social Studies: A+, Science: A, Spanish III: A+, Music: A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
-English 1st Language and Lit.: A+, Math: A, History: A, Economics: A, Spanish IV: A+, German IV: A+, Physics: A-</p>

<p>Class Rank: 2/90</p>

<p>I’m entering the IB Diploma next year with the following courses: English A1 HL, German A2 SL, Math HL, Econmics SL, Physics SL, and History HL. As for the SAT, I’ve been studying quite a bit, and my practice tests indicate that I’ll score above 2100.</p>

<p>Awards (we don’t really do these like they are done in the U.S. either):
-Outstanding Student In the 09-10 Academic Year, outstanding achievement in History, outstanding achievement in Music, 1st place in school talent show (relevant? I think not.)</p>

<p>ECs:
-Participation in Musical Theatre, lead role in three musicals.
-Participation in theatre, starred in numerous classical theatre pieces.
-Soon-to-be participant in a piece in the regional English theatre.
-Musician, guitar and drums. Member in two bands with freinds/peers, compose and record songs on my own, and give guitar lessons.
-Tutor peers in Math, History, and Spanish.
-Teach English to members of the community who are interested in learning it and oftentimes have no or little previous knowledge.
-Participant in Model United Nations. Attended 3 conferences so far, more to come.
-Editor-in-chief of school Magazine of the Arts.
-Fluent in 4 languages and currently learning Arabic.
-School basketball team, 3 non-consecutive years.
-Hospital visits every weekend to entertain children who have fallen ill. Qualifies as volunteer work?
-Two week internship at central bank.
-Two one-week internships at neighbors delicatessen.
-In charge of school radio; makes announcements Tuesday mornings.</p>

<p>Schools like Columbia give out need-sensitive aid to international students; do you believe I could possibly qualify for this, or are my chances more than slim? Are there any schools that give need-blind aid to int’l students?</p>

7

<p>Need based aid will be based on your family income and assets converted to U.S. dollars. There is no way anyone here can even guess what kind of need based aid you would be eligible for without knowing your parents’ incomes and assets.</p>

8

<p>Thank you thumper1. What about merit-based?</p>

9

<p>Merit aid will depend on the schools. If they award need based aid to internaionals, you would need to be at the top of the applicant pool to garner significant merit aid. You can check the websites to see what kinds of aid the schools you are interested in offer and what the stats are for merit aid CONSIDERATION. It’s often not automatic, but sometimes it is. Schools vary on these types of awards.</p>