I’m an international student from Brazil willing to sttudy in the US. I was researching about some universities, and the scholarships available. I’ve noticed most private universities offer more scholarships than the public universities, atlthough they’re generally more exensive. For example SMU tuition is $48,190, but it has scholarships that range from $1,500 to half-tuition, in other hand many “top” public universities tuition are cheaper, but they have very limited scholarships for International Students, and the amounts aren’t that great. So, I was wondering, are private universities more cost-effective for international students? Or am I worng? Should I apply to a private or public university, thinking on the scholarships?
It all depends on how much you can afford.
If you need financial aid, do not apply to public universities: they don’t give financial aid or scholarships to international students.
Apply to privates, especially in the less-popular parts of the US, like the central, northern or southern states (where there’s less competition from other international students) or need-blind elite schools which can be generous to the outstanding (and lucky!) international student.
Only "full-pay"students – those who can pay the full public school tuition for internationals (often over $50,000/year) – should be applying to public universities. For everyone else, it’s a waste of time and money.
Thanks for the reply. That was exactly what I wanted to know!
I can’t afford the publics full tuiton, I need some scholarships and financial aid. I’ll apply for a private university then.
I’ll start researching about private universities on that regions you mentioned. Do you recommend any that I could look at first?
Start by looking at schools regionally by using college search engines, including on this site, princetonreview.com or collegeboard.org. Then narrow down by those that have the major(s) you’re interested in and where your stats – your grades, SATs or ACTs – put you in the upper 25th percentile of admitted freshmen. Consider percentage of international students and how many receive financial aid. All that info is available online.
One public school worth considering is the University of Alabama, which has automatic FA for international students with certain stats. Howard University is also known to be generous to high-achieving internationals. Another place to look at are private Catholic colleges and universities.
Search this subforum for names of other schools; lots of examples here.
Finally, accept that it’s HARD for international students to get in with sufficient financial aid. Many are rejected everywhere they apply because the significant competition for the (limited) funds for internationals.
Another alternative is to find schools with very good merit aid.
University of Alabama is one of the few schools(and it’s good) that gives full tuition for 1400 math+CR and 3.5 GPA(32 ACT works too), plus 1250$/semester if you are CS/Engr major.
Howard University, ranked significantly higher, gives at least full tuition, room and board for same stats.
But if you really need a very large amount of financial aid and you’ve got reasonably high scores, your best bet is to apply for guaranteed merit aid offered by some public unis, and private colleges that guarantee to meet full need for all admitted international students.
Oh btw I mis typed about Howard being ranked higher. Its actually LOWER