<p>I want to study in New York (I'm from the UK) and someone I know said they wanted to do the same but the cost was prohibitive. Can I not take out a loan as an international student and also apply for scholarships? </p>
<p>There are very few scholarships for international students, and they are very, very competitive. As to loans, without a cosigner you won’t get one for the estimated $200,000+ in tuition. </p>
<p>There are a few ways to finance a US education. The top US universities (Harvard, etc) offer need-based financial aid to all of their admitted students, including international students. If you’re really good, that might be an option. Another option are merit-based scholarships at lower-ranked universities. A few universities give full-tuition scholarships to students with an SAT score of 1,300 / an ACT score of 30. Although, to be honest, you probably wouldn’t want to attend those universities if you could score that high. A third option are athletic scholarships for recruited athletes. If you want to go that route, it might be worthwhile to work with an agency that will get you in touch with US coaches. </p>
<p>If you want to study in NYC specifically, things get tricky. NYC is a really expensive city, which makes both your cost of living and the cost of running a university really high. Budget $50,000 a year for tuition+fees and another $20,000 a year for living expenses. </p>
<p>There are cheaper options in other parts of the US. For example, you could attend North Dakota State University for $12,000 a year plus living expenses. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, loans aren’t all that easy to get. US banks don’t normally give money to foreign students, unless a credit-worthy US citizen will cosign for it. You might be able to get some student loans from your home country, but student loan programs in Europe are usually not set up to cover the cost of a US education.</p>
<p>Thanks for both of the responses. I have found a company which offers student loans without a Us cosigner called globalslc.com so that is always an option if i don’t get a big enough grant from my University of choice.
Unfortunately, I’ve got my heart completely set on New York so going elsewhere is not an option for me.</p>
<p>NY is a big state; were you considering just the city?</p>
<p>Yes, I was. 
My heart’s in the big city! Looks like it’s going to cost me a pretty penny. I’m sure it’ll be worth it.</p>
<p>Why NYC specifically, and not just any big US city? I’m just trying to get an idea of what you’re looking for. </p>
<p>What do you want to study, by the way? Maybe we can help you find more affordable options.</p>
<p>In calculating, you have to figure out how you can finance all 4+ years, not just the 1st year, get your visa and demonstrate ability to pay (and repay any loans). WANTING NYC and being angle to AFFORD NYC can be very far apart, for US citizens and everyone else. </p>
<p>I’d be VERY suspicious of any lender who would loan $200,000 without any US and other co signers. </p>
<p>GlobalSLC does require a co-signer, just not from the US. Have you looked at the interest rates?</p>
<p>
They don’t actually provide any loans themselves. It’s an agency that faciliates loans between students and lenders. It’s conceivable that a UK bank or an international bank with branches in both the UK and the US might be willing to give you a loan with a UK co-signer to study in the US.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, there are a few caveats. First, you can’t rely on a single agency to provide you with a student loan. Their website doesn’t even state which banks they have relationships with or what countries of origin they service. I can’t find a statement about interest rates or the fee that they charge for their service either. (Presumably, getting a loan through them is gonna be more expensive than if your co-signer just got that same loan from a local bank, since the agency wants a cut of the profit too. But just how much more expensive?)</p>
<p>Second, be honest with yourself and with your potential co-signer how credit-worthy your co-signer really is. How much money would a local bank realistically lend to your co-signer at a fairly high interest rate, given their historical income and outstanding debt (e.g. a mortgage)? </p>
<p>FWIW, student loans in the US typically come with interest rates between 5% and 10%. Many middle-class American families find that they can get better interest rates (currently between 3% and 5%) by taking out a second mortgage on their home. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the info everyone. Very helpful. I want to study in NYC because it’s my life’s dream to be there. I’ve wanted to since I was a child, I’ve financed several trips there myself and it’s where I feel most at home. I currently live in Italy (originally from the UK) so I’ve lived abroad before and travelled extensively (I’m not rich by the way, I fund my travels by working as an English teacher) and NYC is where I belong. It’s not that I want to study in America, per se, it’s that I want to study in New York.
I want to study music, specifically singing and the course I am looking at is at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Which, incidentally, has the highest number of international students of any university in the US.
I could get a co-signer with good credit history fairly easily as long as they do not have to be from the US. </p>
<p>So now you need to ask yourself: is my NY education worth a quarter of a million dollars in debt… </p>
<p>i know it sounds crazy but i honestly think my answer is yes. I literally have no other dream in life other than to come to NYC and study music. It’s the one thing I want so it’s worth any price. If I do something else with my life, I’ll only spend it wishing I’d just gone into debt and done what I wanted than stayed debt-free but always wondered what-if…</p>
<p>
Double-check that “fact.”</p>
<p>In 2012, 91 of their 270 students were international. Granted, as a percentage, that’s fairly high at 34% - but not unheard of. Specialized programs (more typically found at the graduate level) often have a large international student body. My own graduate program is abbout 70% international.</p>
<p>As an absolute number, 91 means very little. Georgia Tech alone enrolls about 4,500 international students! </p>
<p>Ok. That’s the course I want to do though.</p>
<p>
Nothing is worth “any price”! How old are you? I ask because this is the way teenagers talk, and I was under the impression you were older. Dreams are not reality. In the real world, loans have to be repaid. Even assuming someone is willing to cosign for you (a huge financial risk for anyone), even assuming you get past the audition requirements for this college, even assuming you get some kind of grant (which is unlikely to make a much of a dent in the costs), how would you propose to repay all the money borrowed to finance your “dream”? Because with a degree in vocal performance, you will most likely be working once again as an English teacher–and doing it back home, because you won’t have the visa required to work in the US. And that load of debt will get in the way of everything else you may want out of life–marriage, home, children, travel, etc. I’m sorry, but you’re betting on a silly, romantic notion that won’t materialize. Study music the cheapest way you can at home. If you’re any good, you can come to NYC after you have your degree and see if you have a chance at a singing career. NYC isn’t going anywhere. </p>
<p>As for that large percentage of internationals at the college? Tells you nothing. They may be welcomed with open arms because they are full pay and help keep the place afloat.</p>
<p>Haha, i’m 24! Not a teenager. Thanks for your dose of reality. I still believe there’s a way, though.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t want to be a professional singer. Lots of people who study music and voice go onto become music therapists, to teach music in schools and educational settings and work within the music industry, It’s not a case of me wanting to become Beyonce or whatever. I may seem teenage, but I do have serious ambitions and goals.</p>
<p>That is a lot of debt with a low salary resulting from such a degree. Here in the states we have way too many people even with Ph.D.s in music, performance, theory, education, etc. who can rarely find jobs to support themselves much less a family, or pay off debt. These are people who have trained their entire lives in the classical tradition and jazz at top notch schools. Imagine people trained since age 4 in violin or cello, piano and to some extent voice, by the thousands, all coming out of these schools across the country, with masters and Ph.Ds. all struggling and selling real estate to support themselves, or waiting tables… my town is full of them. Some even move to Nashville to try to get piecemeal work there where they join tens of thousands more. Just an observation from my neck of the woods. Best wishes to you. I’d stay in Italy any day over New York if I had half the chance:)</p>
<p>Thanks for this insight. It is a lot of debt to go into, were I not to be given a large grant or full scholarship. </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your thoughts and ideas, I really appreciate it. I hope you don’t think I’m going into this lightly and that I’m just an airhead with a big dream. I have thought about it for a long time and I am researching all my options. If I am accepted I will think long and hard about how to finance my education and whether the debt is worth it. I believe it could be. But I would not take such a decision lightly. From my research, I believe there is some hope for a full scholarship or a large grant but I also want to know what my options are should this not occur. Thanks again for all your wisdom and insight.</p>