I am an international student who needs a huge financial aid. I am taking a GAP year. I am thinking about applying early this fall (Nov 2017). Which schools, other than Amherst, Harvard, MIT, Yale and Princeton, give a huge aid for international students?
I found this thread (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/1698406-to-all-international-students-asking-for-huge-amounts-of-aid.html). How true is it? It was posted 3 years ago.
Yes, most of that information still is true.
Why do you want to study in the US?
What do you want to study?
What do you mean by “huge financial aid”?
How much can your family pay? Can they cover the cost of your travel?
Some colleges and universities do offer need-based and/or merit-based aid to international students. Some don’t. Some places only have one big scholarship like that each year. Some places have more scholarship money available.
@JordanHarden, Many colleges and universities offer substantial financial aid to international students. The figures listed in that thread from 2014 are generally still valid; however the whole picture of international aid is more complicated.
The schools you listed are what is called “need blind.” That means that they don’t consider your financial need when they evaluate your application. They are extremely selective, even for U.S. students and even more so for internationals. Apply if you like, but understand these are super-reaches.
Other schools are “need aware” for internationals. This means they consider your financial situation when they decide whether or not to admit you. They do, however, still give financial aid to internationals, and in some cases, quite a lot of aid.
There are two types of financial aid: need-based and merit. Need-based means that the college’s financial aid department analyzes your family’s income (including real estate and investments) and decides how much you should be able to pay. If the college “guarantees to meet full need” for internationals, then the college pays what they think you need and you pay the rest.
U.S. families can use the colleges’ net price calculators to get a good idea of how much need-based aid they may be eligible for. For international families, the NPCs are less reliable. If yours is a middle to low income family, then your best approach is to contact a few financial aid departments to get an estimation of the amount of need-based aid you might receive.
Merit aid (also called merit scholarship) is handed out based on your accomplishments, and isn’t directly related to need-based aid. There are a few (very few) schools which offer substantial merit aid to internationals. Merit aid is very difficult to predict.
Many colleges, including I believe all of the need-blind schools, are need-only, meaning they don’t give merit aid to internationals, period.
My advice would be to concentrate on schools that guarantee to meet full need for internationals and start a dialogue with the financial aid department to get direction on how much you might receive. If your need is “huge” then your application list is going to have to be “huge” as well and include schools that you may have never heard of in parts of the country that you may not be familiar with. Be flexible.
Money is out there for internationals, but it takes a lot of digging to to find it.
Should I apply to St. Olaf, St. Lawrence, Washington and Lee and Earlham, since they give FA to almost/all their Int’l applicants? I looked at their requirements and etc, it looked like my scores are fine.
Also, I heard that applying early, in November, qualifies you for the most FA you can get. How true is that? Do colleges/universities tend to give most of their money to early applicants?
Thank you.
From the thread that I mentioned above
" Update List
Colleges that give more than $35000 dollars to more than 60% of students:
Bard 43146 - 141/223
Bates 52427 - 88/116
Colby 50080 - 101/155
Connecticut - 49126 - 57/73
Dickinson - 31882 - 136/170
Earlham - 40937 - 172/180
Franklin and Marshall - 37432 - 159/241
Furman - 32370 - 83/108
Grinnell - 36837 - 161/210
Hamilton - 49565* - 59/88
Kenyon - 39737 - 58/73
Lafayette - 40358 - 94/147
Lewis&Clark - 32370 - 83/125
St. Olaf - 35410 - 173/177
Trinity - 51003 - 146/181
Whitman - 37133 - 34/53
Williams - 54671 - 80/129
Middlebury - 43708 - 181/245
Macalester - 42854 - 202/250
Colorado - 42025 - 86/124
St. Lawrence - 37020 - 185/186
Washington and Lee - 49860 - 61/61
"
You must mean that they give FA to most enrolled international students.
The CDS does not report how many international applicants declined admission offers because they thought the aid was inadequate.
Be sure to look into options in your home country as well.
That list, while accurate, can be misleading as you don’t know how much each recipient received and you don’t know how much was need-based and how much was merit (except in case of schools that don’t give merit). As I mentioned, your best bet for a “huge financial aid” is need-based aid from a school that guarantees to meet full demonstrated need for internationals.
If your grades and scores are within range, then you may get accepted; however the determining factor for the schools that you listed is your family’s income and how much need-based aid you may be eligible for.
Applying Early Decision or Early Action doesn’t necessarily mean more FA than regular decision. Colleges that are need-aware (which is most of them) may reject you because you ask for FA. Colleges that guarantee to meet full need for internationals will do so under ED/EA or RD.
Of the schools that you mention:
St. Olaf offers both need-based aid and scholarships for internationals; however they note that their merit scholarships “ranged from $5,000 to $54,260” so there’s no guarantee that you’d get enough. They guarantee to meet full demonstrated need of all admitted students, which I assume applies to internationals as well, but they don’t specifically mention internationals.
Same situation at St. Lawrence. They offer both need-based aid and scholarships to internationals, but their merit scholarships begin at $5,000. I don’t know if St. Lawrence guarantees to meet full demonstrated need for internationals.
W&L offers both need-based aid and merit scholarships to internationals, but their merit scholarships start at “several thousand dollars.” They do NOT guarantee to meet full demonstrated need for internationals (though they might).
Earlham offers both need-based aid and merit scholarships to internationals, but their merit scholarships start at $15,000. It’s not clear if they guarantee to meet full demonstrated need for internationals.
Basically, you have to comb through each college’s website for information and apply widely.
Do we know exactly which schools do that? The CDS line H.2.i seems to refer to all students (making no distinction between domestic and international). So if the value in that line is “100%”, I’d like to think it refers to internationals too. Here’s one list of 60+ colleges that claim to meet 100% of demonstrated need (including both need-blind and need-sensitive schools):
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2016-09-19/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need
I agree that a relatively good bet for “huge financial aid” is need-based aid from a school that claims to meet full demonstrated need. However, it may be the case that such a school (unless it’s need blind for everyone) simply rejects most international applicants with high need. Most “full need” colleges are very selective even for US citizens.
@momrath hi. So what are some schools that guarantee to meet full demonstrated need for internationals? Other than Harv, MIT, yale, amherst and princeton. Thanks
@JordanHarden, You are confusing need-blind with guarantee to meet full demonstrated need. The five schools that you list are need-blind AND guarantee to meet etc for internationals. These are VERY selective and for obvious reasons get a disproportionate number of international applicants.
There are, however, many, many others that that are need aware (meaning they take your financial situation into account when considering your application) but IF they accept you, they guarantee to meet full demonstrated need. The amount of need you demonstrate is based on the financial information that you provide.
What you have to do is make a list of 25 or so colleges that you are interested in and for which you are in the GPA and score range for acceptance. Then go to the website of each college and do your own research.
Here are some examples of what you’re looking for.
One that guarantees:
https://admission.williams.edu/apply/international-applicants/
One that doesn’t
https://admission.tulane.edu/international/aid
@momrath thank you so much.
Many colleges also calculate federal student loans into their financial aid packages when they determine “meeting need.” International students are ineligible for those loans. Have you also figured out not only what your family can afford, but what you’re willing to spend. Most overseas colleges are much, much less expensive than American ones, and parents often fail to realize just how much we spend for higher education here. Your parents might say they can only afford, say, $5000 per year, but your university might say they can afford to spend at least several times that much. When they see the price difference between colleges here and in your home country, their enthusiasm might wane considerably.
Grinnell, Grinnell, Grinnell!!! Grinnell gives tons of FA to international students. That’s probably why the college is 18-20% international students (fluctuation on any given year).
I found few websites that has list of need based schools but they are all different. I dont know which one to follow. Do you know which one is true?
http://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/blog/colleges-that-meet-100-of-student-financial-need/
http://www.thecollegesolution.com/list-of-colleges-that-meet-100-of-financial-need/
http://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-that-offer-complete-financial-aid
thank you
@JordanHarden, The information in all of those sites is most likely “true”; however, it may only apply to students who are U.S. persons (citizens or permanent residents) plus some undocumented immigrants on a case by case basis. It may or may not apply to internationals.
If there’s a reliable list of schools that guarantee to meet full need for internationals, I don’t know about it. As I said before, to find this information you need to comb through each college’s website. Often the information is ambiguous. In that case you need to contact the financial aid department for clarification.
For example, here’s good news from Grinnell:
https://www.grinnell.edu/admission/apply/intl
You must also remember that the amount of need-based aid that you receive is based on your family’s income and financial holdings and is determined by the college.
There’s no easy fix, no guarantee of admission, no way to predict exactly how much aid you might receive. You just have to do extensive research and plan to apply to a wide range of schools. Application fee waivers are available in some cases.
Is there anyone at your high school who can help you? A counselor or a former student who has studied in America?
Education USA is an organization that helps international students get accepted to American colleges. Search their website to see if there is an advising center near where you live. If not, you can communicate with them by email.
https://educationusa.state.gov/
@JordanHarden I know I’m not who you addressed, but the first one’s info looks correct.
Berea is the only one I know that will give full ride scholarship to internationals. Its highly competitive in that regards.
What country are you from?
What type of curriculum are you following?
Are you among the best in your school? Unique in your country?
Have you tried the TOEFL ? The SAT or ACT?
What’s your parents’ annual income?(roughly)
I live in CO; I came here only few years ago. Therefore, I go as an international student.
No, because I go to an American high school, I do not see any international applicant. Plus, my counselor does not know anything about applying as an international applicant.
About choosing schools, I do not even know where to start. Do you think it is an great idea to start my research from the websites I mentioned above?
thank you so much