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Money > Sources of Financial Aid |
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Sources of funding : Overseas
International students can tap the following sources of funding overseas. Universities/Colleges in the US offer financial assistance in the form of Scholarships/ grants that do not have to be repaid. Fellowships and scholarships are awarded annually, on the basis of your performance in the program and on the feed back and recommendations of the faculty. The selection criteria for these scholarships/grants are:
There are a number of websites, which offer free scholarship services. They match your profile and find the ideal scholarship for students. They are:
International Students looking to pursue their graduate studies are awarded research fellowship/assistantship to work as an assistant to a professor on the research project assigned to them. As a research assistant the student receives a tuition wavier or pays in-state tuition fees and earns additionally to sustain living expenses through their education. Alternatively graduate students can receive a teaching assistantship where by they assist a professor by teaching an undergraduate class or checking exam papers. Research and Teaching assistantships are awarded on the basis of the students past academic records, GRE scores and other achievements. Both the assistantships are renewed yearly based on your academic performance and feed back and recommendations of the faculty. Fellowships are the best kind of financial aid a student can receive as they are most competitive, award you with tuition waivers and pay you a stipend without you having to work for it. Fellowships are purely based on academic performance. And there are very few offered each year for international students in particular. University and Colleges in the US often grant need based financial assistance to undergraduate students. Some institutes offer need based financial aid. Students need to apply for the Foreign Student Financial Aid Form from the University while requesting application material. Remember to send this form with the application package and before the financial aid deadline. The university or college decides on a certain financial aid package after evaluating your income and your family’s ability to pay for your tuition and living expenses. The financial aid package consists of a colleges grant and an on campus employment program for the student. The financial aid amount remains the same for all the 4 years of your education but the University reserves the rights to withdraw this package if the student has not been performing to the mark.
There are loans that are available from International Institutions for foreign students. These loans are offered by private institutions in conjunction with banks that provide the loan and guaranteed by another private institution. In most cases a creditworthy US citizen/permanent resident is required as a co-signor. The loan amounts borrowed can vary from a minimum of USD 2000 upto the full cost of education, which entails cost of tuition, other fees, and living expenses (room and board). You can either borrow for the whole amount of going abroad to study, or a specific figure, which you would have calculated after taking into account the amount to be pitched in by parents/other family/friends. The repayment periods also vary. There is a minimum repayment period of 15 years that can rise till 25 years. There are also deferment provisions, these are institutions, which allow you to start your repayments six months after you have graduated or if you change your enrollment status from full time to part time.
The interest will also vary from a minimum of 3 to 10% and some institutions also ask for whatever the current interest rate is. The interest rate paid can also be a 91-day T-Bill rate plus 3.10%. There are also loan fees, which can be from 1-3 %. Guarantee fee would vary between 5-9%.
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