<p>I think the federal government partially reimburses universities for providing aid to U.S. citizens/legal residents through tax breaks or something like that, but not for international students on student visas. So basically, it costs the school a lot more to provide aid for international students, which is why that aid pool tends to be much more limited. As for schools that don't consider a student's nationality in offering aid--i believe that's only in the case of legal U.S. residents with foreign citizenship, not foreign citizens who are in the U.S. on student visas and are expected to repatriate after they complete their educations.</p>