Simple Guide to Financial Aid in The U.S.

Wassup potential US scholars and laureates here is a guide that oultlines sources of funding and how to get it

In the US, there are two methods of getting financial aid. The first method is through merit scholarships and the second is through NEED-based scholarships.

What are Merit Based Scholarships?

Merit based scholarships are mainly determined by test scores on the SAT and/or the ACT. These tests are NOT equivalent to A-Levels and thus won't be substituted by them either. Generally, less prestigious private and some public universities provide these kinds of scholarships. The amount awarded is dependant on the university and can range from a few thousand dollars to a potential "free ride" (which covers your whole tuition and in some places your accommodation as well)

What are Need-Based scholarships?

Need based scholarships are dependant on your family's ability to pay. In that you have to file an application for financial aid to the school which contains your family's finances. This in turn is used to calculate an Expected Family Contribution, a number that the school deems your parents are able to pay towards the cost of the school. The outstanding amount will be paid for by the school in what is called a financial aid package; dependant on the school this package may or may not contain loans.

What do "Full Need" and "Need Blind" mean?

The universities that provide this kind of aid to international students are usually the most competitive to gain admission at. Places like: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, MIT and are considered need blind and full NEED met so they don't factor your ability to pay into the admission decision and if admitted they promise to meet your full need (again which is your calculated EFC minus the cost of attendance) Cornell is also need blind to all applicants but it is not full need in the sense that some people maybe offered a place without any financial aid largely due to limited funds that are available to international students

What does "Need Aware" mean?

There are other institutions that award aid to international students. These are namely called need aware schools. This doesn't mean they can't offer you any aid no on the contrary it just means there are limited amounts of aid available for internationals. The reason they are called need aware is because they factor your ability to pay into the admission decisions. Strong schools like Stanford, UPenn, Northwestern are need aware but have the ability to give out large financial aid packages but you need to be of the very best caliber to get admitted.

What if I'm not the next Einstein can I still afford a U.S. degree?!?!?

Why YES!!! There are institutions in the U.S. called liberal arts colleges. No they are not sixth form colleges or vocational colleges. They are just smaller institutions that focus on undergraduate education. They will typically have 1,000 to 5.000+ students and have very small class sizes which indicates more attention from professors. Liberal arts colleges will be more willing to add to their diversity by giving international students aid.
Top liberal arts colleges like Amherst, Williams, Middlebury are perceived as the little Ivy League; they are just as competitive to gain admission to but give substantial amounts of aid.

Other well respected LACs are:

Bryn Mawr, Harvey Mudd (for engineering and science), Vassar, Carleton, Colby, Mount Holyoke (for girls), Claremont McKenna and many many more!

**if you didn't know all of these names end in "college" like : Harvey Mudd College

****Could a Mod please sticky this thread for easy access thanks!

(edited 7 years ago)

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Reply 1

username738914

USEFUL LINKS

EFC Calculators to estimate your family's financial contribution:

AIE Managing Your Money EFC Calculator

Harvard's EFC Calculator

Princeton's EFC Calculator

International Student CSS Profile (to be sent to unis you're applying to)

********Net price calculators only give accurate estimates if your parents are US citizen/green card holders or are permanent residents that file US tax returns *************

Some links to compile your college choices with:

https://oacac.memberclicks.net/assets/website/intfinaid09.pdf

A link to a list of unis that give international students aid although a bit outdated it still holds true today.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/143944-master-list-full-near-full-tuition-merit.html

Post #12 gives a list of some full/near full tuition scholarships but if it were me I would check with the university to see if it's available to interntionals

http://www.internationalstudent-s.com/colleges-offering-financial-aid.html

List of colleges that offer aid to internationals sorted by state

Some well known scholarships:

Duke:

Karsh International scholars
http://ousf.duke.edu/merit-scholarship-programs/karsh-international-scholars

A.B. Duke
http://ousf.duke.edu/ab-duke

Robertson Scholar
http://ousf.duke.edu/robertson-scholars-program

University of Virginia:

Jefferson Scholars (requires nomination)
http://www.jeffersonscholars.org/undergraduate_program/the-jefferson-scholarship/

University of North Carolina -Chapel Hill:

Morehead Cain (requires nomination)
http://moreheadcain.org/

Robertson Scholarship
http://www.robertsonscholars.org/index.php?type=static&source=2

University of British Columbia:

International Leaders of Tomorrow
https://you.ubc.ca/ubc/vancouver/ilot.ezc

Washington University St Louis:

Several merit based scholarships
http://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships/programs/Pages/default.aspx

University of Southern California:

http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1314/uscScholarships1314.pdf

International Trustee - full tuition
International Presidential- half tuition
Scholars-a quarter tuition

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2

username738914

http://www.harvard-ukadmissions.co.uk/Funding%20and%20financial%20aid -Harvard's UK Admissions page. It goes into more depth about the financial aid process and gives examples of families' varying income levels with their calculated aid below them.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

Myan

I'm moving to Rio de Janeiro the next year, I want to study computer science or biomedical engineering , I don't know any university with financial aids to apply in .i know it's in brazil not USA :biggrin:

but if u have any information plz help me !
Thanks :smile:

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Reply 4

username738914

Hmm.... I'll have to look in to that, as I don't really know much about Brazillian Universities but I'll try and compile any info I find. Will definitely get back to you after I find more about Financial Aid in Brazil.

Reply 5

username738914

bump This needs to get noticed!

Reply 6

username738914

Bump! Need admins to sticky this! There are too many people being discouraged from applying because of money; there really isn't a sufficient thread outlining Financial Aid.

Reply 7

ThatPerson

Original post by Princepieman

Bump! Need admins to sticky this! There are too many people being discouraged from applying because of money; there really isn't a sufficient thread outlining Financial Aid.

Try posting in this forum to ask the mods to sticky this thread:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=5

Reply 8

pbunny

********Net price calculators only give accurate estimates if your parents are US citizen/green card holders or are permanent residents that file US tax returns *************

Original post by Princepieman

bump

Please add this very crucial detail to your main post. I've been told this by colleges themselves!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 9

username738914

Original post by pbunny

********Net price calculators only give accurate estimates if your parents are US citizen/green card holders or are permanent residents that file US tax returns *************

Please add this very crucial detail to your main post. I've been told this by colleges themselves!

Sure thing!

Reply 10

username1792313

Original post by Myan

but if u have any information plz help me !
Thanks :smile:

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Original post by Princepieman

Here in Brazil you do not only have state universities, but federal ones. Both completely free of change to anyone, but a pain in the ass to get in. You will need to sign up for an annual test called ENEM. Deadline is usually in march and if you miss, you have to wait a whole year again to sign up and take it. Its composed of 180 questions, taken in two days of one chosen weekend (saturday and sunday) normally in november, divided into 90 questions each day plus an essay on sunday. Terms here starts in feb/mar and aug/set. The questions are 45 about math, 45 about the portuguese language, including grammar, literature and general culture, 45 about nature sciences such as chemistry, biology and phisics and 45 about social sciences like history, geography and philosopy and, like I said, an essay you do on sunday. You generally have 4 hours and a half on saturday and 5 hours and a half on sunday, but you can extend that time if you provide need for it.

The scores you get on ENEM varies from uni to uni, it depends a lot on the criteria each one uses. You wont be seeing it until february next year, when you have to enter a website called SISU to check your scores. You will be seeing a different one for each course of each university, state or federal. You simply choose the university you want to apply to, choose your major and check if your score beats the minimum. If so, you submit your interest and wait for the uni staff to contact you, if not, choose another major from another university and repeat the process. If none of what you got is what you wish for, you also have the option to remain in the waiting list for that specific major in that specific university.

Private universities are the easiest: you simply schedule a simple test, which is a piece of cake, you do it and you are in. You do not even need to study or worry about your score, even homeless people are approved all the time. quite cheap for international students too, since a dollar here is around 3,20 reais or somewhere between, these numbers change everyday.

Reply 11

Draco Dormiens

If you were a UK-based applicant and your parents had, say, an income of around £150,000-£200,000 per year; would any of the Ivy Leagues be even remotely affordable tuition-wise? Or any universities in general that are well-respected in the USA? It seems as if the middle class don't have a place at US higher education institutions :frown:

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Reply 12

username738914

Original post by Draco Dormiens

Posted from TSR Mobile

Umm... £150k-£200k is NOT middle class in the slightest. Where did you get that idea from?

That translates to $220k-$330k, which is much higher than a "middle class" income. Middle class is $50k-$150k or £33k-£100k.

You'd, unfortunately, not be eligible for any form of financial aid.

The tuition+board would come to ~£38k at an Ivy/top US uni. That's 19-25% of that income range - if your parents are OK with sacrificing a bit, it should be more than affordable.

If not, the Unis here are perfectly adequate!

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Reply 13

monkey0110

Nice so if my families income is about $20k how are my chances of getting a heavily subsidized degree?

Reply 14

username738914

Original post by monkey0110

Nice so if my families income is about $20k how are my chances of getting a heavily subsidized degree?

Some universities will give you full financial aid.

Stanford, most Ivies, Amherst, and co definitely do.

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Reply 15

baebae

hello. just wanted to say huge thanks to you for posting this! :smile:

do you by any chance know if colleges consider your need for financial aid when making the decision whether to accept you? like can it act as a "bad thing" in your application?

Reply 16

SamBurtonBKC

Hi,

Thanks for some useful information

I am applying to study in the US for fall 2016. So far I have visited USC (University of Southern California), LMU (Loyola Marymount) and US Irvine. Of these, I am applying to USC and LMU (so far). I want to study in southern california as I have always loved this area and I have family/friends there who could house me.

The only problem which is hindering me is the financial part of study there. I understand that many merit scholarships are given upon application to the schools...but do you know of any current external scholarships which are available to int. students?

Thank you

Reply 17

pbunny

Original post by baebae

hello. just wanted to say huge thanks to you for posting this! :smile:

do you by any chance know if colleges consider your need for financial aid when making the decision whether to accept you? like can it act as a "bad thing" in your application?

If a college is need-aware (all colleges are for international students except a select few elite colleges) then your family's financial situation will be considered. If the decision comes down to you and someone else with similar stats, if you need financial aid and he/she doesn't, he/she will likely get admitted instead of you. So, yes, it can work against you.

Reply 18

pbunny

Original post by SamBurtonBKC

Unfortunately I can't help you out. Have you asked your college counselor about any local scholarships that you may qualify for? If you don't have a counselor, try to google for scholarships (?).

It's important for you to know that the biggest scholarship offers come from the universities themselves - outside scholarship amounts tend to be far less than the scholarships the university offers.

Word of advice: If you don't think you'll be able to come up with the money to attend these universities, stay in your home country. Don't go into a ton of debt for a financially unrealistic dream. It is not worth it. If you really want to go to college/live in SoCal, I recommend you apply to graduate programs in that region or visit your relatives during your school holidays.

Reply 19

dev18

Hello!

If financial cost is an issue when considering applying for US University there is some good news! The Sutton Trust US Programme provides admission support for low-middle income students. They pay for ACT and SAT exams whilst providing individual mentors to give tailored support for application essays. There is even a free trip to the US involved where you can explore colleges and US culture- I stayed at Yale University and visited Harvard, Princeton, Amherst, Columbia and many, many more.

It is an incredible experience which I would highly recommend to anyone considering US Undergraduate study!!