How to Get Scholarships to US Colleges and Universities as an International Student?

International students are often told that getting a scholarship to an American university is very difficult because they are mostly reserved for domestic students who qualify for FAFSA (federal help for US citizens only). However, this is in fact false. Instead, almost every international student can get partial and in some cases full scholarships to US universities.

So how does it work?

Many American universities need diversity for their programs. They want their campuses to be truly international and include top students from every country. There is even a special prize for campus internationalization awarded to campuses by an organization called NAFSA. To attract a wide range of nationalities, schools create different incentives, and the strongest incentive is an offered scholarship. The scholarships may have different criteria. For example, there are academic scholarships, financial aid scholarships, talent scholarships, athletic scholarships, essay scholarships, leadership awards, etc.

Academic Scholarships are based on student merit. For international students, universities would consider the GPA (grade point average), TOEFL, and sometimes SAT or ACT score (but only top schools require these exams).
This is the most popular and easiest way to obtain a scholarship. Academic scholarships are usually partial scholarships and cover a certain percentage of tuition, room, and board. The student should be prepared to pay the remaining cost. Depending on the university policy and academic merit of each student, the remaining cost can range from 20%-70% of the total academic cost (tuition, room, and board). There are over 500 universities in the United States that offer generous merit scholarships for international students. Some including the top ones such as New York University, State University of New York (SUNY), Lehigh University, Montana State University, Williams College, Macalester, Washington State University, Manhattan College, North Central College, University of Massachusetts- Amherst and many others. Cogito World Education offers a college scholarship program for international students and guarantees 7-10 partial scholarship offers from different universities. The minimum GPA required for partial scholarships is 2.5 and the minimum TOEFL score is 61 (IELTS 5.5).

Need-based scholarships (financial aid) are based on the individual student’s financial situation. In order to apply, the student will have to fill up a CSS profile by providing detailed information on the parent’s income, expenses, the value of the property, etc. The best thing about financial aid is that it usually gives the student as much money as they need in order to afford all related educational costs in the US. The downside is that only a small number of US universities offer need-based scholarships for international students and, in some cases, indicating a need for financial aid can lower the chances for acceptance. Fortunately, the best three universities in the world – Harvard, MIT, and Princeton – are need-blind. This means that they do not look at the student finances before acceptance, and, if the student gets accepted, they will cover up to 100% of the costs if the student’s family can’t afford tuition. Other schools also offer need-based financial aid for international students, for example, Bates College, Yale, Cornell.
Most schools that offer financial aid require high SAT or ACT scores.
Read more about Cogito SAT prep here.

Athletic scholarships are offered to top student-athletes that are usually recruited by coaches to play on the US college sports team. If the school team is in Division I or II of the NCAA, they can get fully or partially funded. Read more on athletic scholarship here.

Essay, leadership, and talent scholarships are usually smaller and can be combined with merit-based financial aid scholarships. Some colleges give extra money to leaders that act as student ambassadors on campus. Others scholarships can be provided to students who have musical talent or have won an essay contest. Wichita State University for example offers essay scholarships.

Work-study – international students are also permitted to work up to 20 hours on campus and earn extra money usually between 9-13 USD per hour. Students usually work in libraries, cafeterias, administrative offices, etc. This is a great and easy way to earn pocket money and add to your future resume.

If you would like to learn more about scholarships available for international students or are interested in applying to an American university contact us at info@cogitoworldeducation.org