Which public universities give merit aid to internationals?

Paying for College
1

Hello,

I’m asking for a friend, who is considered an international applicant. She wants to apply to public universities as they’re cheaper, but she too, needs a certain amount of scholarship. She has good grades, ECAs, etc…

Listed below are a few of the universities she’s considering-

  1. University of Washington Seattle
  2. Rutgers University- New Brunswick
  3. Texas A&M University
  4. Michigan State University
  5. University of Vermont
  6. University of Pittsburgh
  7. University of Colorado at Boulder
  8. University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign

Do any of these give merit aid to international students? If not, can you name some good public universities in USA in the 40-60% acceptance rate range that give merit aid to internationals?

2

University of Texas at Dallas gives really generous scholarships for good sat/act scores and if a student receives a scholarhsip they automatically qualify for instate tuition.

3

Thanks @Ibebikz , could you list a few more universities like that?

4

Look at Alabama. They offer set rates for certain stats. I’m not sure if it applies to internationals though.

If she’s interested in merit, she should look at private schools. Publics don’t tend to give merit at all much less to Internationals.

There are some publics, like Alabama, who give standard awards based on stats, however.
http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php

I couldn’t find the thread on this forum for other automatic scholarships. Someone else may supply it. Temple I think used to have one and may still have one.

5

you could also check collegedata.com to find out what percentage merit a school gives.

Best of luck.

6

Take University of Colorado, Boulder off the list. In the vast, vast majority of cases, they do not give FA to international students. It even says so on their website. The ONE student I know (I have connections at the school) who did receive a fair amount of FA was an international olympiad finalist.

If your friend is set on applying to public schools – which by definition have far less money to give to internationals – she needs to look at states where fewer international students apply, and there’s less competition for the aid: states like Alabama, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, etc.

7

UIUC acceptance rate is way lower than 40 - 60%, and they give very little merit to anyone. Your friend should cross them off the list.

Be sure to check into Alabama, though. Maybe Ole Miss?

8

@katliamom @NerdMom88 so do you suggest applying to more private colleges? She can’t afford private colleges and isn’t sure how much need based aid she will get and thus is relying on her merit.

9

Some of the smaller LACs that are good use merit to attract high performing students. You may want to look at–

Muhlenberg (77% merit)
Lake Forest near Chicago
Agnes Scott (cheaper plus 40% of students get merit)
St. Olaf (40% merit)
Florida Tech (93% merit)
Rollins (42%)
Wells College (88%)
Denison (94%)
Hendrix (48%)
Rhodes (68%)
Whitman (43%)

For public –

Lewis-clark state college (70%)
University of wyoming (71%)
University of Montana (66%)
U of Vermont (41%)

I’m finding the merit percentages on the collegedata website.

10

@Dustyfeathers to clarify, is this for internationals?

11

I don’t know how much this is for internationals. You would need to first (I think) look for schools that offer merit (using collegedata.com or some other site, maybe collegenavigator) and then contact the school for their internationals criteria.

Otherwise, look through the thread on this forum for scholarships etc. I would bet that someone has discussed this issue in the past.

Best of luck.

12

My general feeling is that–

  1. 70% of schools in the USA don’t fill. They need to fill to justify going on.
  2. Public schools in many states are under pressure to bring in cash because the state government is cutting funding in several states and OOS students and internationals are seen as providing cash infusions;
  3. Merit for Internationals is tough to find, but possible if you look for a) directional (lesser known branches of state schools) that just want to fill and b) small but good private schools that need to fill somehow if only to show alumni they are still viable.

For example, St. Mary’s College of MD is a state school, LAC, and has had trouble filling because it has messed up its admissins for a couple of years. they offer 60% merit. Will they extend that to international? Not sure, but it’s worth contact them to see.

Hollins U in Roanoke provides 100% merit.

St. John’s U in Queens–80%–very solid university in NYC
St. John’s College in Annapolis (reading great books LAC) – 50%
St. John’s U in Minn–93%–also an excellent school, just not on people’s radar.

Just keep looking. You will find a fine institution within your budget someplace. As I said there are more than 2000 institutions. 70% of them didn’t fill last year.

For example if you go to collegedata and type in “penn state” the site will pull up all of the penn states, all of the campuses. You will see that the main campus in University Park offers little merit compared with Penn State Beaver, because Beaver is a smaller, less well known campus. Beaver may be a better shot, but it depends on their internationals criteria. That you will need to contact the website or the school abotu.

Best of luck.

13

@Dustyfeathers thank you so much for your help, I’ll definitely tell my friend to look into it. :slight_smile:

14

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