<p>jsanche32, I will have to disagree with you.</p>
<p>While you are correct that most of the 4,000 colleges in the US do not have much financial aid for international students, several dozen colleges are extremely generous to international students. For example, most of the top 20 national universities and top 50 liberal arts colleges (by US News) have need-based financial aid. Many more universities have academic or athletic scholarships.</p>
<p>I just counted the international financial aid recipients at the first 20 colleges that came to my mind and got up to 4,967 (with average aid packages exceeding $30,000 per year!). At my own college 111 of the 230 international students receive college-sponsored financial aid, with an average aid package of $33,000 per student. Statistical outlier? Not among selective private colleges!</p>
<p>You have a good point that some international students are funded by their home government, but that option seems to be limited to very few countries.</p>