You Cannot Get Financial Aid – Do You Know Why?
By HSB
US Education for international students is expensive. Unless you have lot of money to spend. So, every student applying for US Universities, College want to get aid to study in U.S. But, there are many facts students don’t understand. Almost every student ask the following question
My GRE Score is xxx, I want list of Universities that give aid.
Why you will not get Aid
Not every student applying to college will get aid. Most of the students think there are universities in US that will give aid to them, no matter what GRE Score they have. Do you have the same idea? If you you are wrong.
But, college can give Aid to only few students. Not every student applying to US Universities get Financial Aid or Scholarship. So, if you are thinking that you can get aid along with admission for your GRE Score, then rethink the idea/imagination you have.
Who will get Financial Aid
About 30% of students do get aid. But, they have skills and qualifications. Documents they submit shows their value and how they will contribute to the college. If someone named Joe Smith has GRE Score 1300 and have authored few papers and have letter of recommendation from professor known to scientific world, then Joe will get aid in the school that accepts students with average GRE Score around 1100. But, same Joe might not get aid if he applies to school that requires minimum GRE of 1400.
So, if you skills and qualification then there is a very good chance to get Financial Aid, Scholarship or Some form of Assistantship along with Graduate School Admission.
Low GRE Score and Financial Aid?
If you have GRE Score below 1000. For example if you read comments in the blog for some articles, you will see questions like
My GRE Score in 900 and I had 3 backlogs. I want list of universities that give Aid for my GRE Score.
So, there is some misunderstanding here. Not every student applying for Admission will get financial aid with admission. You can get admission and after you come here, you should work for a professor and if they are interested in your work habits and performance, then you will get aid. But, assuming that there are Universities in US that will give Financial Aid to all the students is totally wrong.
How to manage expenses?
Well, if you don’t get aid, then you could get part time job, that will help you pay for your monthly living expenses. If you attend schools where cost of living and tuition fees are less then you can save $100 to $200 per month just by working part time job. As F1 students you are allowed to work 20 hours per week. Most of the jobs pays like $6 to $8 per hour.
I know what other questions you will have in mind after reading this article. To name a few
- I have taken Student education loan, will I be able to pay after studying?
- I cannot afford to pay out of state fees, so I need 100% aid, what shall I do?
- My seniors said everyone will get aid in US Schools, but you are saying the opposite.
If you have been following all the articles in this blog, then you should be able to find answers to the above 3 questions.
Image Credit – Aussiegal
Related posts:
- Any Hope of Getting Financial Aid?
- 5 Things About College Admission, Financial Aid and I-20
- Questions – Transcripts, Financial Aid and GRE Scores
- GRE Score 880; PhD Admit $20,000 Financial Aid; F1 Visa Chances?
- Is Funding Still Available To Study in US?
hi i m venkatesh…the info here is very good and extremely useful…thanx for the post…
First i have taken my Education ,then i will be able to pay education loan hopefully b/c know i am living in ETHIOPIA ,As we all know Ethiopia is the poorest Country in the world so that i can not pay prepaymnet to Study.
The am happy i got this site of yours which have cleared loads of queries regarding MS in US.Thanks for the help.
My question is(again something others have asked but i am looking for different answer).
My parents wont be able to bare my expense to study in USA,for now they say they cannot lend more than 5 lakhs Rs ,so if i don’t get a scholarship at first place,in no way i can take a chance to still pursue my studies,hoping of getting one in next semester.
I even got your point that not everyone can get a scholarship.I am yet to give my GRE and would be giving it before December so as to apply for Fall 10.
So can you please suggest me what i should do now,so that my chance of getting scholarship increases as i am an average student but deeply inclined in research work related to Artificial Intelligence.
And i believe there are universities who have some dedicated scholarships schemes for foreign students,so most of us what to know these universities and how much scholarship/freeship they provide under these schemes.
thanks in anticipation.
Apply to a PhD program to increase chances of funding. Competition is everywhere buddy. That’s how life is.
I had a good GRE score of 1400+, got admits from US colleges for the Masters program that I’d applied for, but none of them offered any scholarship. Will I be able to get funding after I join college? My reason for asking this question is that even after getting a good GRE score, if schools are not offering any funding then this might mean that they don’t plan to give funding to international students at all, even if they do well academically, reason being the recession. What do you think? Do you think they just want to earn money off international students until the recession scene gets better?
Keep this in mind – GRE isn’t everything. They consider other factors as well – what else do you think your undergraduate grades, recommendations, etc are for? The other thing is that you only applied for a masters – why would they want to give aid to someone who is going to spend only 1 or 2 years? They would rather fund a PhD student who would be spending 4 to 5 years doing research that will lead to publications for the professor. Finally, they may simply have no money – they may need the funding to support existing students. With so many international students applying every year, the question to ask oneself is – what makes you so special? What is it in your application that makes you any different than the local students and the other hundreds of other applicants? It is fine if you want to apply to top schools – just adjust your expectations.
You cannot get federal financial aid if you are an international student. Only, US residents and Citizens are granted with Fed Financial Aid. Chances are that international students will have to pay out-of-state tuition, since they are not consider residents of the state where the school is located.
Good luck!
dear sir,
i wanted to know the education system and chances of getting funding or scholarship in pharmacy phd programes in europian universities for international (indian)students compare to american universities, and which is better and also most importantly chances of getting job overthere.
@ ashutosh,
hello…it seems we’re on the same boat. I also want to know PharmD in US as compared to Europe and Canada. Although I’m still hoping to receive my H1b visa, i want to look for other options. Got my Fpgecert fr US.
rojk
Get into a program first – stop thinking of job.
thanks …you gave very good infos about aid. can you tell me how to know which university is giving how much scholarship? and if i am applying for P.hD in biology field then how shall i find the right university and apply?
Tiya – Answered your question as a postHow to find University with Scholarship
Good points about financial aid.