<p>I am international applying to colleges for next fall. Till now I have applied to UCLA, UC Berkeley, UIUC and UT Austin. I am aware that these colleges don't provide need based financial aid to internationals. I can afford them on full pay ( might end up with a 30-40k loan after 4 years), but it would be great if I could get some financial aid (merit based or work opportunities or anything). So, assuming that I get into one of them ( I believe I have a fair shot at atleast two of them), do these particular colleges provide ANY financial assistance to internationals?</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I live in a second tier city in India where 25k a year is good enough to live very comfortably…in any case my parents have saved 100k over the past 3 years for my college…so thats not an issue…</p>
<p>my stats…</p>
<p>SAT:</p>
<p>2160 in first attempt ( M-800, CR-720 , W-640)…have retaken it…expecting near 800 in writing this time and so a super score of near about 2300</p>
<p>SAT 2:</p>
<p>Math level 2- 800 Physics- 800</p>
<p>Grades:
Class topper for last two years…Straight A’s in all courses related to maths,science and computers</p>
<p>Essays: I love them…My dad got them reviewed by Cornell professor who said they were excellent</p>
<p>EC’s: Pretty decent…some national level awards and achievements in maths and science…200 hours of teaching work at an NGO for street children…national level tennis player and U-19 team captain of my state at interstate nationals…etc…</p>
<p>Recommendations: Excellent from what my teachers told me</p>
<p>I just want to know is there any merit based scholarship for internationals or any work opportunities. I know the UC’s have almost no aid. Wanted to know about UIUC and UT Austin mainly. </p>
<p>Public schools you listed DO NOT give aids to internationals. You have to either qualify for those 7 need blind Ivy/ivy like schools or apply broadly to some private schools that may give some merit scholarships with your stats. When you get the new sat, post it here for further comments.</p>
<p>Each university website should clearly indicate what aid (both need-based and merit-based) is available to international students. If you cannot find the information there, email the international admissions office and ask. It really, truly, is OK to do that.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 i tried that but got some incredibly vague answers…i just wanted some first hand information on that</p>
<p>@artloversplus ok…i know they don’t have any need based aid, just wanted to know if they gave merit based aid to good performers or the best students or something like that ( not that i think i’ll qualify in either )</p>
<p>You need to ask them directly. Don’t be vague about your question. Some of the vagueness in the replies may be due to the fact that occasionally individual departments or sports programs manage to scrape together some merit-aid for especially desired students. Or because sometimes departments give a little merit scholarship money to returning students.</p>
<p>But those aren’t your questions. Your’s are: Does your college/university give merit-based awards to incoming international students? and What grades, test scores, and other factors would qualify an incoming international student for one of those awards?</p>
<p>If the answers are still vague, take them as a polite way of saying “No” and cut that place off your list.</p>
<p>You would have a much better chance of merit aid, and even financial aid, if you applied to private universities rather than public. Why did you choose the ones you did? It’s not too late to apply to more schools - or perhaps you already have? What are you hoping to study?</p>
<p>@SpiritManager I have and will be applying to some private colleges. But I will need to get lucky to get into any of them. I am hoping to study Computer Science, but I am also interested in Finance, so I don’t really know. I have applied for CS for all colleges right now.</p>
<p>I am applying to Cornell,Dartmouth,Stanford,Caltech among others. And I really doubt that I stand a good chance at any of these. </p>
<p>@happymomof1 will try that. Thanks. And also do I seem like a competent applicant at any of the four private colleges I listed just above?</p>
<p>Section H6 of each school’s Common Data Set file should indicate whether the college makes institutional scholarship/grant aid available to international students. Google for [school name] + “Common Data Set”.</p>
<p>According to Berkeley’s 2013-14 CDS, “Institutional scholarship and grant aid is not available” for non-resident aliens.
According to UCLA’s 2013-14 CDS, “Institutional need-based scholarship or grant aid is available”.
For 2013-14, 74 UCLA undergraduate degree-seeking nonresident aliens were awarded need-based or non-need-based aid, averaging $28,291. I believe that is 74 undergrads (not just freshmen) out of all 3730 degree-seeking non-resident aliens.</p>
<p>According to UIUC’s 2013-14 CDS, 7 internationals were awarded need-based or non-need-based aid that year, averaging $10,637. According to UT Austin’s 2013-14 CDS, 403 internationals were awarded need-based or non-need-based aid that year, averaging $5,184.</p>
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