6 Elite Schools have need-blind financial aid
Limited Financial Aid Available
History of funding at www.internationalstudent.com
Know the website of schools well
File CSS Profile or ISFAA
Submit Certification of Finances
Six schools, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst, and MIT are all ‘need blind’ and ‘full need’ regardless of a student’s country of origin. This means that if accepted, international students will obtain the necessary financial aid to attend. Be aware, however, that though these schools advertise themselves as being “need-blind,” which technically means that financial circumstances are not considered in the admissions process, how this might actually translate into the reality of admissions warrants consideration. Specifically, in the state of Connecticut, Yale has 478 international students, of whom, 77 (about 16%) were awarded an average aid package of $31,000; compare this with Connecticut College (56 of 209, (or 27%) of its international students, were awarded an average aid packages of $38,000); and Wesleyan (49 of 143 (34%) awarded an average package of $41,751), and it becomes difficult to discern which institutions are actually ‘need blind’ and ‘full need’ and which are practicing.
Obviously, gaining admittance to a school with a large endowment, and, for the most part the most selective schools in the country are well endowed, improves the chances for an international student’s gaining financial aid. For example, Stanford, with an endowment of $16.5 billion, and with 885 international undergraduate students, awarded 203, on average, $29,000 in financial aid last year. What’s difficult about figuring out the international financial aid puzzle is each college sets its own policies. As you’d expect, there are not a lot (almost no) government funds available for international students. Be almost assured that, if you gain acceptance into University of California at Berkeley, for example, it will be charging you full tuition, room and board; that’s the reason Berkeley has allocated an ever larger portion of its admits to ‘out-of-state’ (including international students); it wants to garner full tuition revenues to offset dwindling state funding. Discovering the best opportunities for aid are a function of investigation, application, and luck.
To get a sense of what financial aid might be available to international students, go to www.internationalstudent.com and click on “Schools Awarding Financial Aid.” You’ll encounter some very interesting information. I viewed the international financial aid awards in Massachusetts. Obviously, Amherst and Harvard, with their need-blind programs, award a lion’s share of the aid, but, not far behind them, in Massachusetts, are Williams, awarding 89 of 140 international students average packages of $37,000; Wellesley with 68 of 184, $37,000; Clark, 103 of 166, $21,000; and Smith College, 120 of 200, $30,000. These schools might be very good places to apply for international students needing financial aid. One surprise was Tufts, which has pretensions of being ‘almost ivy.’ Of its 384 international students, 10 received financial aid, which amounted to slightly less than $20,000 each.
What is crucial is that international students gain an understanding of all the financial aid requirements at each campus of interest. That requires reviewing thoroughly each school’s website to discover financial aid eligibility and deadlines. Keep in mind, even with financial aid awards, all international students will need to submit a Certification of Finances, proof that you have the financial resources to pay should you gain admittance. Additionally, all the private schools to which you’re applying, will require either a CSS Profile, or the ISFAA (International Student Financial Aid Application) to determine your effective family contribution (EFC). The earlier you submit all of these materials to the admissions or financial aid offices, the better.
There are a lot of colleges within the borders of the United States. Most applicants clump their applications among a select 80-120 (the ones that accept fewer than 50% of the applicants who apply). If you peer beyond the well-worn paths you’re liable to find some interesting matches that might be well worth the search and effort. Financial Aid does exist at many schools for international students; you just need to supply the effort and tenacity to find it. Do so. And as Winston Churchill said: “Never, never, never quit.”