Need Based Financial Aid for International Students

A number of colleges and universities in the US offer need based financial aid to international students. This means that the university will pay for whatever expenses you are unable to cover on your own. You will need to calculate how much of the cost you can pay and the university will pay the rest through a combination of scholarships, grants and employment. Most of the colleges that do offer need based aid to international students put students applying for aid in a separate pool during the admission process. Admission to the institution from within the pool is usually much harder because of the competition. Therefore these schools advise you not to apply for aid if you are able to afford the cost as this will increase your changes of admission.

A handful of these colleges (Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Amherst, etc.) offering need based financial aid to international students are also need blind in their admission decision. This means that your capacity to pay for your education will not factor in the admission decision because these universities have a need blind admission policy. Your chances for admission will remain the same whether you apply for aid or not. Basically if you can get in, the expenses will be taken care of. As you can imagine, the universities and colleges offering need based financial aid to international students is limited and the competition is extremely intense. International students who usually get these scholarships are well accomplished in academics and extracurricular activities. Obtaining a seat in any one of these U.S. colleges will get you through college without any financial worries.

Colleges that offer need based financial aid to international students are:

Amherst College

Brown University

California Institute of Technology

Claremont McKenna College

Columbia University

Cornell University

Dartmouth College

Duke University

Georgetown University

Grinnell College

Harvard University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Northwestern University

Pomona College

Princeton University

Rice University

Stanford University

University of Chicago

University of Pennsylvania

University of Richmond

Vassar College

Wellesley College

Williams College

Yale University

This may not be a comprehensive list of all the colleges offering need based financial aid to international students. If you know of other schools that offer similar financial aid, please add it to the comments section.