<p>A friend of mine, asked me if it's possible to get financial aid as an International student. He can pay up to 20k a year for everything (tuition, books, expenses etc etc) I told him that are a couple of schools that give financial aid to internationals based on this site : List</a> of Colleges offering financial aid to international students. But I'm also confused with the term "financial aid". Does it mean they give you money in form of loan? or in form of a Scholarship? and does that mean that only those 6 schools are able to offer you financial aid in form of scholarship (you dont have to pay back) based on this? Schools</a> Awarding International Financial Aid
Help please</p>
<p>A student’s total financial aid package can include one, some, or all of these different kinds of aid:
Scholarships (you don’t have to pay this back, it is a gift)
Loans (you have to pay this back)
Work Study (you have to find a job on campus at your college and work to earn this money)</p>
<p>Most colleges/universities in the US do not offer loans to international students. However, some international students can arrange loans from a bank in their home country, or from a government organization in their home country.</p>
<p>Some students can get scholarships in their home countries, and then use that money to study in the US.</p>
<p>To learn more about all of this, your friend should 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 he should make an appointment with the counselors at the advising center closest to where he lives. If he can’t visit in person, he should call or email them, and find out what kind of help they can give him by phone and/or email. The counselors there are expert at helping students from his country find good places to study in the US. They will be able to tell him where students like him have been admitted in recent years, and whether or not they received good financial aid packages.</p>
<p>What about those 6 schools? [Schools</a> Awarding International Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.internationalstudent.com/schools_awarding_aid/]Schools”>Schools Awarding International Financial Aid) . I know, they are really difficult to get into , but once you get into e.g. Harvard, doesn’t the school offer you as much financiall aid as you need? to quote the site “Basically, if you can get in, you can afford to go”</p>
<p>Your friend needs to know that what he thinks he can pay, and what any college or university thinks he can pay, may be very different. That is what matters.</p>
<p>There are a few less-expensive colleges and universities that fall into your friends price range. There are others that offer one or two very generous scholarships for international applicants which might end up being affordable for him. He really does need to buckle down and do his own research. It is not unheard of for international applicants to investigate two or three hundred institutions in order to identify the ones most likely to award them the aid that they need.</p>