Since I've come to the end of my US college admissions journey now, I thought I'd share the list I put together of US colleges that offer need-based financial aid and merit scholarships to international students, as well as a few of the schools that don't, in the hopes that it might help anyone looking into applying to US unis.
Schools that offer need-based financial aid to international students (and meet 100% of demonstrated need):If a college meets 100% of demonstrated financial need, that means that you will never be expected to pay more than your family is calculated to be able to pay (as calculated by each college); any gap between your family’s estimated family contribution and the college’s cost of attendance will be filled with a mixture of grants, work study, and sometimes small loans. For more information, check out the thread on need-based financial aid:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2160183If a college is need-blind, that means your family’s ability to pay will not be a factor in admissions. If a college is not need blind, then they are need aware, meaning that your family’s ability to pay will be a factor in admissions.
Liberal arts colleges Amherst College (
Need blind)
Barnard College
Bates College
Bowdoin College
Bryn Mawr College
Carleton College
Claremont McKenna College
Colby College
Colgate University
Colorado College
Connecticut College
Davidson College
Denison University
Franklin and Marshall College
Grinnell College
Hamilton College
Harvey Mudd College
Haverford College
College of the Holy Cross
Kenyon College
Lafayette College
Macalester College
Middlebury College
Mount Holyoke College
Oberlin College
Occidental College
Pitzer College
Pomona College
Reed College
University of Richmond
Scripps College
Sewanee: University of the South
Skidmore College
Smith College
Swarthmore College
Thomas Aquinas College
Trinity College
Union College
Vassar College
Washington and Lee University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Private UniversitiesBrown University
Caltech
Case Western Reserve University
University of Chicago
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Harvard University (
Need blind)
Johns Hopkins University
Lehigh University
MIT (
Need blind)
University of Notre Dame
Northwestern University
University of Pennsylvania
Princeton University (
Need blind)
Rice University
University of Rochester
Stanford University
Tufts University
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University (
Need blind)
Public universitiesNoneColleges that offer merit scholarships to international students:The symbol * denotes a merit scholarship that requires a separate application and/or a scholarship that requires an interview as part of the selection process. Whilst any kind of merit scholarship will be competitive, with the majority of the time just how competitive depending on the overall selectivity of the school, scholarships with a separate application process and/or interview stage will be, as one can probably guess, mostly extremely extremely competitive.
The direct cost is the total amount of tuition, room, board, and any required fees. Optional fees (such as parking passes), transportation, miscellaneous costs (such as toiletries), and health insurance are not included as these costs can often vary person to person and can be tailored to an individual’s budget (though at some schools, health insurance is a set cost).
A full ride scholarship is a scholarship that covers the entire direct cost of a college: tuition, fees, room, and board. Some full ride scholarships may include stipends for things like study abroad, research and/or a stipend for miscellaneous living costs - it varies school to school.
As the name would suggest, a full tuition scholarship is a scholarship that covers the entire cost of tuition; living expenses (including room and board and other indirect costs such as transport) are not included.
Liberal arts collegesAgnes Scott College (up to $25k, full ride*) [Direct]
Beloit College ($32k) [Direct]
Centre College ($7.5k-$29k) [Direct]
Connecticut College ($15k-$32k) [Direct]
Davidson College ($20k, full ride*) [Direct]
Denison University ($5k-full tuition) [Direct]
DePauw University ($24k-$40k) [Direct]
Earlham College ($20k-$30k) [Direct]
Eckerd College (up to $22k) [Direct]
Furman University (up to $35k, half tuition*) [Direct]
Grinnell College (up to half tuition) [Direct]
Harvey Mudd College ($10k, $10k(must gave participated in either VEX Robotics or FIRST Robotics)*) [Direct]
Hendrix College ($15k upwards, full ride*) [Direct]
Kalamazoo College ($20k-$34k, full tuition*) [Direct]
Kenyon College ($10k-$25k) [Direct]
Knox College (up to $34k) [Direct]
Lawrence University ($20k-$31k) [Direct]
Lewis and Clark College (up to full tuition) [Direct]
Macalester College (up to $16k) [Direct]
Millsaps College ($20k-$30k) [Direct]
Mount Holyoke College (up to full tuition) [Direct]
Occidental College ($10k-$30k) [Direct]
Providence College ($20k-$30k) [Direct]
Rhodes College ($27k-$35k) [Direct]
University of Richmond (⅓ tuition, full ride*) [Direct]
Rollins College ($10k-full tuition) [Direct]
Scripps College ($15k-$28k) [Direct]
Sewanee: University of the South ($5k-$26k, $30k, full tuition, full ride) [Direct]
Smith College ($10k-$25k) [Direct]
St. John’s College ($2k-full tuition) [Direct]
St. Olaf College (up to $35k) [Direct]
Trinity College ($5k-$27k) [Direct]
Union College ($10k-$25k) [Direct]
Washington and Lee University (full ride*) [Direct]
Whitman College (up to $25k) [Direct]
Whittier College ($1k-$36k) [Direct]
Willamette University (up to $20k) [Direct]
Wofford College ($5k-$20k) [Direct]
College of Wooster ($5k-$30k) [Direct]
Private universitiesAmerican University ($8k-$22k) [Direct]
Baylor University ($12k-$23k, full tuition*, full ride*) [Direct]
Butler University ($15k-$22k) [Direct]
Case Western Reserve University (full tuition*) [Direct]
Chapman University (up to $32k) [Direct]
University of Chicago ($5k for first gen college students) [Direct]
University of Denver ($10k-$27k + $3k if you live on campus) [Direct]
DePaul University ($15k-$24k) [Direct]
Duke University (full ride*) [Direct]
Elon University ($3k) [Direct]
Emory University (up to a full ride*) [Direct]
Fordham University ($1k-$12.5k, $15k, full tuition) [Direct]
Gonzaga University ($1k-$23k) [Direct]
High Point University ($5k-$20k) [Direct]
John Carroll University (up to $27k) [Direct]
Loyola Marymount University (up to $30k) [Direct]
Loyola University New Orleans ($14k-$23k) [Direct]
Marquette University ($10k-$18k, full tuition*) [Direct]
University of Miami (up to $28k, full tuition*, full ride*) [Direct]
Northeastern University ($10k-$30k) [Direct]
University of Notre Dame ($15k, $25k, full tuition*) [Direct]
University of the Pacific ($15k) [Direct]
Pepperdine University ($30k, $36k) [Direct]
University of Portland ($8k-$15k) [Direct]
University of Redlands (up to $32k) [Direct]
Rice University ($15k, $25k) [Direct]
University of Rochester ($2k-full tuition) [Direct]
Samford University ($1k-$17k) [Direct]
University of San Francisco (up to $25k) [Direct]
Santa Clara University ($6k-$18k) [Direct]
University of Southern California ($2k-¼ tuition, half tuition*, full tuition*) [Direct]
Stetson University ($22k-$31k) [Direct]
St. Louis University ($8k-$23k) [Direct]
Syracuse University (partial tuition, full tuition*) [Direct]
University of Tampa (up to $11k) [Direct]
Texas Christian University ($12k-$25k + $4k college-based scholarship, full tuition*) [Direct]
Tulane University (up to $32k, full tuition*) [Direct]
University of Tulsa ($2k-$22k) [Direct]
Valparaiso University ($5k-$30k) [Direct]
Vanderbilt University (full tuition*) [Direct]
Villanova University (full ride*) [Direct]
Wake Forest University (full ride*) [Direct]
Washington University in St. Louis ($3k*, half tuition*, full tuition*) [Direct]
Xavier University ($5k-$20k) [Direct]
Public universitiesUniversity of Alabama ($6k-full tuition + $2.5k for engineering students, full ride*) [Direct]
University of Alaska Fairbanks ($1k-$10k) [Direct]
University of Arizona ($1k-$10k) [Direct]
Arizona State University ($3k-$15.5k) [Direct]
University of Arkansas ($2k-$8k) [Direct]
Auburn University ($5.5k-$16.5k) [Direct]
Boise State University ($8k-$17k) [Direct]
University of California Riverside (up to $13.5k) [Direct]
University of California Santa Cruz ($3k-$10k) [Direct]
University of Colorado Boulder ($6.25k-$13.75k + $3k humanities) [Direct]
University of Delaware ($5k-$18k) (Direct cost = $50k]
University of Florida ($8k-$20k) [Direct]
Florida State University ($14.5k-$17k, $20k*) [Direct]
University of Georgia ($9.5k-$24k, full tuition*, full ride*) [Direct]
Georgia Tech (full ride*) [Direct]
University of Hawai'i Manoa (10k-22k*) [Direct]
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (small departmental scholarships) [Direct]
Indiana University Bloomington ($1k-$11k, full ride*) [Direct]
University of Iowa ($500-$10k) [Direct]
Iowa State University ($2k-$10k) [Direct]
University of Kansas ($3k-$9k, full tuition*) [Direct]
University of Kentucky ($8k-$12.5k, $3k*-$16k*) [Direct]
Louisiana State University (up to $21k) [Direct]
University of Maine ($5k-$15k) [Direct]
University of Michigan Ann Arbor ($20k*, $25k-$30k*, full ride*) [Direct]
Michigan State University (up to $25k) [Direct]
University of Minnesota Twin Cities ($10k-$25k) [Direct]
University of Mississippi ($3.5k-full tuition) [Direct]
University of Missouri ($5k-$16k) [Direct]
University of Nebraska Lincoln (up to $15k) [Direct]
University of New Hampshire ($4k-$12k) [Direct]
University of New Mexico ($15k, full tuition*) [Direct]
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (full ride*) [Direct]
The Ohio State University (small departmental scholarships*) [Direct]
University of Oklahoma ($7k-$14k) [Direct]
Oklahoma State University ($4k-$10k) [Direct]
University of Oregon ($1k-$5k, $7.5k-$15k, up to $20k*, up to $30k(need-based component)*) [Direct]
Oregon State University ($3k-$6k) [Direct]
University of Pittsburgh ($2k) [Direct]
Purdue University ($10k-$16k) [Direct]
University of Rhode Island ($1.5k-$15k, full ride*) [Direct]
Rutgers University New Brunswick ($2k-$10k) [Direct]
University of South Carolina (up to $29k, full tuition*, full ride*) [Direct]
Temple University ($2k-full tuition) [Direct]
University of Tennessee Knoxville ($10k-$18k, full ride*) [Direct]
Texas A&M University College Station ($2.5k-$5k) [Direct]
University of Vermont ($8k-$20k) [Direct]
University of Virginia (full ride*) [Direct]
Virginia Tech (small departmental scholarships*) [Direct]
Washington State University ($2k-$4k) [Direct]
West Virginia University ($3k-$16k) [Direct]
University of Wisconsin Madison (small departmental scholarships*) [Direct]
University of Wyoming ($4k-$7k) [Direct]
Institutions that do not offer need-based financial aid or merit scholarships to international students:Boston College [Direct]
University of California Berkeley [Direct]
UCLA [Direct]
University of California Davis [Direct]
University of California Irvine [Direct]
University of California Merced [Direct]
University of California San Diego [Direct]
University of California Santa Barbara [Direct]
Carnegie Mellon University [Direct]
Clemson University [Direct]
Colorado School of Mines [Direct]
University of Maryland College Park [Direct]
University of Texas Austin [Direct]
University of Utah [Direct]
University of Washington Seattle [Direct]
The College of William and Mary [Direct]
A note on New York University (NYU): NYU appears to be an incredibly popular US uni here on TSR so I thought I’d comment on it at the bottom. NYU’s direct cost is $76k (more if you are applying to Stern, the business school, or Tisch, the school of the arts); they do offer need-based financial aid to international students, however, they
do not meet 100% of demonstrated need. That means that, for example, if your financial aid application demonstrates that your family can only afford $26k a year towards NYU, they do not promise, or even suggest that it is likely, that they will offer $50k in need-based financial aid. What percentage of your need is met is based on merit: i.e. how much they want you.
For more details please check out the first post on this thread which does a great deal of explaining how financial aid at NYU works:
https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/parents-and-students-concerned-with-financial-aid-please-read/1079773Please remember that I am a fallible human being who is subject to human error, so please double-check financial information before applying to a school. Information may also change year to year.This list is by no means exhaustive; if anyone has any other names of schools and/or further information to add, please do so!