<p>First, there are very few schools in the U.S. that provide “good” financial aid or even ANY financial aid to international students, and only a handful offer “full rides” to less than 1 percent of the hundreds of thousands of international students who study here.</p>
<p>U.S. students who need significant financial aid face much the same challenge at foreign universities. Some Federal loans are portable, but other forms of financial aid are not. Some universities outside the U.S., in particular Canadian universities, do have some merit scholarships available for “international” students, but they are seldom large enough to cover all costs if a student has significant need. Even many private scholarship organizations restrict the use of their scholarships to colleges in the U.S. (with the exception of studying abroad as part of attending a U.S. college). </p>
<p>By the way, since your son’s friends are also interested in studying abroad while attending a U.S. college, please encourage them to ask a lot of questions about how financial aid comes into play when applying for study abroad programs. While most colleges will happily tell prospective students that financial aid can be applied to studying abroad, many schools set up special hoops for financial aid students that make studying abroad difficult for those receiving financial aid, regardless of how good the school’s study abroad program appears. Students who need significant financial aid, and hope to study abroad, need to ask very pointed questions about how their work study, institutional grants, and transportation costs will be covered by financial aid, and also whether they will be limited in their study abroad options because of receiving financial aid.</p>