Need advice about moving to America to go to Uni.

Hi, I'm thinking about moving to America after my A-levels in order to go to Uni. I want to know how I go about this and financial things. My parents would not be able to fund me. Is this a huge drawback? I presume I would have to get a loan of some kind. (If I can do this in America). I would literally be going over there on my own, very little money etc. Of course I would first wait for a Uni to accept me, I wouldn't just go over there to live and hope I get in. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Reply 1

KvBhasgotabigwilly

2

I think there are agents you through for the sports scholarships and maybe it's similar if you want to do a normal degree. I don't know much else so sorry

Reply 2

AliciaJ703

2

dude55

Hi, I'm thinking about moving to America after my A-levels in order to go to Uni. I want to know how I go about this and financial things. My parents would not be able to fund me. Is this a huge drawback? I presume I would have to get a loan of some kind. (If I can do this in America). I would literally be going over there on my own, very little money etc. Of course I would first wait for a Uni to accept me, I wouldn't just go over there to live and hope I get in. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Check out the College Board website: www.collegeboard.com; very few U.S. uni/colleges offer financial aid to international students, however, you might be able to apply for academic/merit scholarships at individual U.S. schools.

Reply 3

Tefhel

12

I heard that you can only get a student loan there if you have an American cosigner for the loan. Bear in mind that the fees would be around $50,000/£30,000 a year (unless you could scholarships or somethin) - it doesn't sound doable without parental help, sorry. The UK would be the far more sensible option.

(others might know more about it)

Reply 4

BorisMalden

10

dude55

Hi, I'm thinking about moving to America after my A-levels in order to go to Uni. I want to know how I go about this and financial things. My parents would not be able to fund me. Is this a huge drawback? I presume I would have to get a loan of some kind. (If I can do this in America). I would literally be going over there on my own, very little money etc. Of course I would first wait for a Uni to accept me, I wouldn't just go over there to live and hope I get in. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi, looks like you'll need a fair bit of financial aid, and the only colleges that are needs-blind to international students (don't consider whether you'd be able to pay or not when they accept you) are Dartmouth, Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Amherst, Middlebury, and Williams. Bear in mind that these are pretty tough to get into anyway, so you'd need high SAT scores plus a lot of extracurricular activities to stand a good chance.

However, it's not all bad news. If you do manage to get admission to one of these colleges, then they'll pay for nearly everything, which turns the fee from $50,000+ to about $10,000, cheaper than the unis over here. So if you think you can do it, by all means go for it.

If you're particularly talented at a sport you might want to look into athletic scholarships, I think FirstPoint USA are pretty good, but I can't remember.

Reply 5

sarahlousie

13

Have you considered going to university in the UK but doing a year in the USA. Most uni's offer some sort of study abroad scheme. I have a friend who is currently spending this year in Chicago as part of her history degree.

Reply 6

AliciaJ703

2

Funding Options for dude55:

InternationalScholarships.com - listing of grants, scholarships, loan programs, and other information to assist college and university students in their pursuit to study abroad

Sources of Scholarships Available for International Students: This is a partial list of the complete list that was published in the latest issue of "The International Spirit" (http://www.isoa.org/Spirit/spirit.html), which is mailed to the members and distributed in the International Student Advisors offices. This list will be updated periodically. Examples from this list are:

- American Political Science Association. Foreign Student Travel Grants for APSA Annual Meeting. 1527 New Hampshire Ave. Washington, DC 20036 #202-483-2512. Undergraduates & graduates may apply for travel grants which are designated for foreign students to enable them to attend the APSA's annual meeting

- Entomological Society of America. 9301 Annapolis Rd. Lenham, MD 20706. 301-731-4535. Scholarships to undergraduate students majoring in entomology, biology, zoology, or a related science.

- Fellowships Section, Office of Technical cooperation of Development, United Nations, NY, NY 10017

- Guggenheim Foundation. 527 Madison Ave. NY, NY 10022 #212-644-4907. Awards for thesis clearly relevant to aggression & violence and human dominance.

International Education Financial Aid: http://www.IEFA.org
International Education Financial Aid (IEFA) scholarship search is the premier resource for financial aid, college scholarship and grant information for international students wishing to study abroad.

FastWeb: http://www.fastweb.com/
There are several free scholarship databases available online. With more than $1 billion in scholarships, FastWeb is the largest, most accurate and most frequently updated scholarship database. If you supply an email address, they will notify you when new awards that match your profile are added to the database. You can even submit an electronic application to some of the scholarships listed on FastWeb, saving you time and money. FastWeb also includes a college search and numerous other student resources.

College Board's FUND FINDER
The College Board's FUND FINDER scholarship database, also known as ExPAN Scholarship Search, lists scholarships and other types of financial aid programs from 3,300 national, state, public and private sources. The database is updated annually.

SRN Express: http://www.srnexpress.com/index.cfm
SRN Express is a free web version of the Scholarship Resource Network (SRN) database. The SRN database focuses on private-sector, non-need-based aid, and includes information about awards from more than 1,500 organizations. The database is updated annually.

Wintergreen/Orchard House Database
Most other sites that offer a free scholarship search do not compile their own database, like the sites listed above do, but instead license the Wintergreen/Orchard House (WOH) scholarship database. Although the WOH database is updated quarterly, most of the sites that license it update their copy only once a year. Most of the sites also implement their own engine for searching the database, with varying degrees of tightness in the match. Most offer a very loose match, presumably because it means they initially can claim to provide more matching awards, even if those awards don't really match the student's profile. The WOH database lists awards from 1,570 sponsors.

Some of the more well-known sites that offer the WOH database include:

http://www.collegenet.com/mach25/
Note: The CollegeNet MACH25 interface to the WOH database is more a browsing interface than a true search engine. As such, most students will not find it helpful in quickly identifying the awards for which they qualify.

International Education Financial Aid (IEFA) http://www.iefa.org/
Provides a comprehensive listing of grants, scholarships, loan programs, and other information.

InternationalScholarships.com http://www.internationalscholarships.com
International Scholarships is the premier Internet financial aid resource for international students wishing to study abroad. At this site, you will find the most comprehensive listing of grants, scholarships, loan programs, and other information to assist college and university students in their pursuit to study abroad.

InternationalStudentLoan.com http://www.internationalstudentloan.com/
In this time of globalization and increased desire to study abroad, InternationalStudentLoan.com have recognized the need for a range of international student loan programs for the growing population of students who wish to study in foreign countries.

In addition to the scholarship databases listed above, there are also several other free scholarship databases listed on FinAid. These databases are smaller, but also more tightly focused. The list of Major-Specific Databases (http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/majors.phtml) provides information for specific majors or career interests, such as art, computer science, journalism, or nursing. FinAid also provides pages describing scholarships and other forms of aid available.

NAFSA Association of International Educators NAFSA: Association of International Educators is the national professional association for international educators. NAFSA promotes international educational exchange between the United States and the rest of the world and provides information about financial aid for international students

Most requested book: "Funding for US Study : A Guide for Internationals" Paperback, 550 pages, List: $39.95; Published by Institute of International Education, January 1996; From the publisher: "International students and their US educational advisors find it difficult to identify sources of financial aid for study in the US. Most grant directories offer little or no information on the availability of awards to citizens of other nations. Funding for US Study provides the information international students need."

Reply 7

dude55

OP

10

AliciaJ703

Check out the College Board website: www.collegeboard.com; very few U.S. uni/colleges offer financial aid to international students, however, you might be able to apply for academic/merit scholarships at individual U.S. schools.

You seems to know quite alot :smile:

I understand I could try and get scholarships etc. but to be honest I dont really know much about them. The uni obviously pays for you to do your course but is that all. Would I still pay for living costs etc. and for my accommodation, halls of residency and all that? I'm just not really sure what is covered in a scholarship?

Reply 8

AliciaJ703

2

dude55

You seems to know quite alot :smile:

I understand I could try and get scholarships etc. but to be honest I dont really know much about them. The uni obviously pays for you to do your course but is that all. Would I still pay for living costs etc. and for my accommodation, halls of residency and all that? I'm just not really sure what is covered in a scholarship?

Like other posters have mentioned above, certain U.S. uni/colleges offer need based financial aid to international students and it pays for tuition, accomodation, health insurance, others school fees etc. Most academic/merit scholarship pay a portion or can cover your entire tuition costs depending on the school. The most important factor is having a very high SAT score which makes you eligible for many U.S. scholarships.

Check out this website for info. related to loans for international students: http://internationalstudentloan.com/international_student/faqs.php; this website: http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/intl.jsp

Need advice about moving to America to go to Uni.

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