The reality is that financial aid for international students is very limited. Most colleges don’t have any aid available for international students and international students aren’t eligible for loans from the United States government or eligible for federal work study. There are a few colleges that treat international students the same as American students for purposes of financial aid but these colleges are generally among the most competitive in the country. There are some colleges that have financial aid available for some international students but such aid is very competitive either because the aid is very limited or the college itself is very competitive or both. The goal then as an international student is to find those colleges that do offer aid to international students and determine how to best maximize your chance of getting such aid.
So where do you start? One suggestion is to look at the web site for International Counselor that provides a list of colleges broken down by the type of aid they offer. Although this list is not complete it does offer a starting point in the search for financial aid. Contact any college on the list that you are looking at to verify their current funding for international students as this can change over time. Another good site to look at is International Student. That site has a link to various colleges around the United States including the cost of the college, the average financial aid for international students and the number of international students getting aid. Finally, take a look at the list of colleges that have aid for international students from the Overseas Association of College Admission Counseling.
Next we would suggest going to the College Board site and search for colleges using their
college matchmaker link. This link allows you to search for colleges based on a number of criteria. While the link itself is helpful generally to find colleges that might meet your criteria for an American college, the important section for an international student is under the Cost and Financial Aid section. At the bottom of that page you will find a section that says, “Find colleges that offer financial aid for international students.” You should check this box to help find colleges that offer some aid to international students.
After checking our the college matchmaker site, go to the web site for the Council of International Schools. Look under the Higher Education link for Find a University. Here you can search for a college by country, by state, by major or by name. In addition you can specify additional search criteria such as the size of the college and the type of financial aid available to international students. This allows you to look for both need based and non-need based financial aid. If you aren’t sure what the difference is check out the basics of college financial aid.
Once you have some colleges in mind, you should check to find out which colleges have the largest endowment per student. A colleges endowment is the amount of money that the college has to invest. The endowment per student is simply the amount of the endowment divided by the total number of students that attend that college. The greater the endowment per student the greater the amount of money that the college has to spend on financial aid. This often translates into additional aid for international students. You can find a list of the largest endowments here. Keep in mind that the important number is the endowment per student, not the raw endowment number.
Some colleges also have special financial aid programs for specific groups of students. The Starr Foundation Grant at Carleton College is one such example. This grant provides full scholarships including tuition, room and board for students from Asian countries.
Other web sites to check for scholarship and loan opportunities for international students include International Education Financial Aid and Scholarship Experts.
At the most selective colleges the chance of getting admitted for any student is very difficult. International students who need financial aid should consider looking at colleges where the students grades and test scores put them in the top quarter of the students applying to that college. By applying to colleges where the student is at the top of the application pool, they have a greater chance not only of acceptance but also of qualifying for whatever aid that college might have for international students.
By using these techniques you can start to narrow the focus of your search for international student financial aid. However, the bottom line to getting aid as an international student is that only those with the best grades and test scores are likely to qualify for financial aid.