Author’s note – I am an Indian national who’s studied in a national university in the US through scholarship. Here, I want to spread the lesser known information on how you can comfortably study in the US at either no cost or an affordable price (mostly involving just your living expenses). I personally recommend getting your undergraduate education in an international atmosphere since it not only gives you great opportunity for intellectual expression but also shapes you into a globizen who has had international exposure at a young age.
This is a detailed guide to high quality undergraduate education in the US for which you either pay nothing or whatever you can afford to pay. You can easily get into some random community college in the US and pay a cheap price but then you’ll only get what you pay for. But here we’ll see mostly only those colleges that are of top notch quality that offer opportunities to be educated either for free or at a very affordable price through grants and aid.
Why USA?
America is the hottest destination for higher education today. Its universities offer some of the best quality education available…though almost always at an alarming price tag. But don’t let that deter you from trying to get into an American university! They offer unbeatable opportunities to undergraduates by letting them engage in hands-on research, do co-op jobs, go study abroad, work while you study and other interesting stuff all while letting you bask in an environment that is so friendly, flexible and full of freedom and opportunity. And not to mention the international exposure you get since you’ll get to interact with a lot of other international students on campus. Here’re some official reasons as to why Indians prefer higher education in USA - http://www.usief.org.in/Scripts/StudyinUSAAdvantagesofStudyingintheUnitedStates.aspx
You’ll be surprised to know how many opportunities exist for students wanting to pursue high quality undergraduate education in the US either for free or at a really low price! Though these opportunities are highly competitive, they shouldn’t be too tough for people who have the aptitude to compete to get into the top institutes in India.
So, keep in mind that affordable education in the USA is not out of your reach. It is totally gettable without much financial compromise. However, scoring admission in an American university can be a complicated process. Hence, we’ve come up with this guide. So let’s dive into the different processes you need to be aware of before you dive headfirst!
Need-blind admission
During the admission process, almost all colleges in the US require you to supply information on your financial wealth before considering you for admission. While some institutions are need-sensitive (i.e. sensitive to whether you can pay for college or not), others are need-blind (i.e. they don’t let your financial ability affect your chances of admission). If you’re from a financially weaker background, you need to look for institutions that administer need-blind admission for international students. This will improve your chances of getting admission.
Different types of financial aid:-
You can get a free education in some of the top institutions in the US even though you’re an international student. As such, very few universities in the US offer absolutely free education to all those who are enrolled (you’ll see a list of them further down in this guide). But there are universities that cost a lot of money but offer opportunities for a full financial aid thus making your education free of cost at the end. Financial aid usually comes in three varieties – grants, work-study programs and student loans. Of these three, grants are the best kind. Grants are aid that is given away without obligating you to return it back. Merit-based and need-based scholarships fall in this category. Work-study programs require you to work for a certain period of time (usually 15 hours or less per week) in jobs (usually within the campus) in order to pay the fees. Loans are well, loans with interest rates that you have to pay back later. Usually your financial aid package is a combination of the three. When selecting colleges, make sure that your financial package comprises only of grants and work-study opportunities and not loans.
Need-based aid:-
Need-based financial aid is vital if you want low-cost education and it means exactly what it reads. It is aid that depends on what your family can afford to pay. When your family’s ability to pay doesn’t meet the cost of attendance of that particular college, the college chips in the extra cost in the name of need-based aid. Mind you, not all colleges do this, only those that explicitly say that they provide need-based financial aid to international students do this. And usually, only highly selective private liberal arts colleges offer need-based financial aid to international students.
In some of the top liberal arts colleges (liberal arts colleges also have science programs and sometimes even engineering programs) of USA, you can even get away with the entire cost of attendance being paid by the college on your behalf! Cost of attendance means the money you pay not only for your tuition but also for room and board, books and supplies, transportation and other miscellaneous expenses. This means if you get your entire cost of attendance paid by the college for you, you can get top notch education at a price lower than it would cost for you to get educated living in India! Now there’s no better bargain!
Scholarship from outside:-
It is encouraged to seek scholarships outside of the institution. The following are resources to find scholarships from outside.
- http://www.iefa.org (International Education Financial Aid)
- http://www.nafsa.org (NASFA: Association of International Educators)
- http://www.iie.org (Institute of International Education)
- http://www.edupass.org (eduPASS)
- http://www.ecis.org/colleges/aid.htm (European Council of International Schools).
Compromise on quality?
Unlike in India, you don’t have to get into the top places in the US (such as MIT or Harvard or Yale) to get excellent education (Although MIT, Yale and Harvard are among the few that offer need-blind admission, you can be sure that it is a near impossibility to get into their undergraduate programs being an Indian student. But don’t worry, there are lesser known others that give you equally good education where you stand a chance!). Though lesser known in India, most of the American universities that offer need-based aid have some of the highest standards in the world and administer unique ways of education and many of them even involve students in undergraduate research! The reason why you may not know about these universities from here is their abundance. And you may be inclined to think that the cost of attendance being free, it sure would be a cheap place with poor educational standards. But you’d be dead wrong! The thing is that these universities take a lot more money to educate their students than what they ask the students to pay. For instance, the amount that Colorado College spends to educate one student nears $80000 per year but their cost of attendance payable by the student before calculating the financial aid is only $52000 per year. They manage to bring down the cost of attendance to this level (and also award financial aid) through the funding they receive from donors, alumni, the federal government etc. So you can be sure that the lack of cost doesn’t compromise on the quality of education you receive.
So, if all this is so good, then what is the catch?
The catch:-
The catch is that these opportunities are highly competitive especially for an international student. Spots for fully funded international students are very limited and often attract competition from around the globe. You need to prove to the admission committee of your desired college that you’re the best fit for them and they’re the best fit for you. You need to let them know why you’re an asset to them.
Qualifications:-
Unlike in India, colleges in the US, while considering your admission, take a holistic look at you as a person and decide. Just the lack of a fantastic academic performance doesn’t guarantee rejection. You can prove your worth through other means…but nonetheless academic performance is a prominent factor. Weightage to the following criteria depends varies from one institution to another.
- Secondary school marks – To attend a great college, you need to have a great performance in secondary school. Sometimes colleges need official mark sheets for the past four years of school to check the consistency of your academic ability. Usually your GPA needs to be 4.0 on 4.0. Don’t panic! This doesn’t mean you need to score 100% on all your final exams. Depending on the conversion mechanism used by the university or an independent body (such as the World Educational Services) that the university requires you to convert your secondary school marks to GPA, sometimes even a 80% will translate to 4.0/4.0 GPA!
- SAT Test– The SAT is one of the most important factors deciding your admission and financial aid package. Everyone, including Americans, need to take SAT I (some Americans take the ACT instead) in order to get into almost all the colleges in the US. The SAT I includes three sections – Math, Reading and Writing and each section carries 800 points. Of these three, the Reading section is often the toughest for most Indian students while the Math section proves to be the easiest. Out of the possible 2400 points, if you can score above 2300, you’d be in a favorable position. But don’t worry, SAT I is much easier than you think.
- Essay – Almost all colleges expect you to submit an essay. Usually the essay will be a display of your writing skills, express why you want to attend specifically their institution, why the college needs to accept you and basically why they should give you admission. This is usually a more important admission criteria than you’d imagine. Don’t exaggerate, be honest, write it with your heart into it, genuinely learn about the college comprehensively and use that knowledge to describe the different features of the college in your essay. Write different essays for different colleges because they have to be specific to each college. Colleges don’t want a generic essay written with words like “I would like to get into your prestigious university…” Instead, write “I would love to get into Bates College and be a proud Batsie because…” Research what each college expects out of your essay and give them what they want.
- Extracurricular endeavours – Again, admission processes in the top institutions in America are not like in India. The admission committee takes a holistic look at you as a person before taking a decision. So any extra-academic activities that you engaged yourself in will come in handy during this process. Examples involve hobbies that you’ve advanced in, community services, projects you’ve worked on, part time jobs you’ve been at, your contributions to ‘SMU!’…pretty much anything that proves that you’re an interesting and well-rounded person and that you’ll be an important addition to their institution.
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FAFSA - Most institutions require you to submit the FAFSA form to assess your financial need. The FAFSA calculates your financial need based on the information you give about your family’s income, assets and such. More information can be found here - http://www.edupass.org/finaid/fafsa.phtml. Some colleges also require you to submit a CSS profile. More information on this can be found at https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp. But these are just to assess your need and they won’t affect your admission process as long as the college is need-blind.
- TOEFL Test – And of course you need to clear the mandatory TOEFL test to be eligible for admission into any of the American universities. TOEFL is the “Test of English as Foreign Language” used to test if your English proficiency is good enough. Some Universities waive off the TOEFL test under certain circumstances and some others offer option between the TOEFL and the IELTS.
Admission procedures:-
All universities have deadlines before which you’ll have to submit your complete application. For the Fall semester (which usually comes in August), the application deadlines usually come between January and April (sometimes even June) of that year. The sooner you apply the better. Ideally, you should start hunting for colleges and start applying to them at least 1 year prior to the deadlines so that you get a clear idea of where you want to get admission. You’ll have to pay the application fee, which can range from less than $10 to $50 or even more. Also you' might have to pay for the FAFSA and CSS profile besides paying for the tests. More help here – http://career.webindia123.com/career/studyabroad/Education_us/document/admision/procedu.html
Selecting Universities:-
While selecting universities to apply to you have to keep in mind that depending on your credentials, there are 3 types of colleges – Match, Reach and Safety colleges. More on that here - http://www.inlikeme.com/selecting-colleges-reach-match-and-safety-schools.html
While selecting colleges you’ll need to compare them based on their ranks. Usnews.com could be very useful while searching for ranks of colleges - http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges
Lists of colleges that offer free education and need-based financial aid:-
Here’s a list of colleges that offer free tuition (keep in mind that spots here are highly competitive for international students) – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124214844075811349.html
Of those in the above list, Berea College in Berea, KY seems to be most promising for international students. More about it here – http://www.berea.edu/admissions/international/costs-and-financial-aid.asp
Also check out College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri although there’re very limited spots for international students (3 – 6 spots per year) – http://www.cofo.edu/internationalStudents.asp
Here’s a resource that contains lists of institutions that administer need-blind admission, offer need-based financial aid and more – http://www.internationalcounselor.org/College%20program/the%20list.htm
Last Resort:-
In case you don’t believe you stand a chance against this tough competition towards free education in the US, don’t give up on the idea of studying in the US! You can choose to settle for lesser competitive colleges. You could try the plethora of community colleges that are scattered throughout the US. Though they aren’t the best of colleges, they’re certainly much better than the majority of colleges in India where you may not get the best of treatment or the freedom to choose. Plus you can have the benefit of getting international exposure at a young age. You’d be surprised how much that could change you as a person!
Community colleges in the US offer 2 year courses at the end of which you can either transfer to a 4 year college or join the workforce though it is recommended to transfer to a 4 year college, study for another couple of years and obtain a Bachelor’s degree. This reduces the overall amount you pay for your education plus allows you the time to prepare yourself financially for the 4-year college. To know more about community colleges, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_colleges_in_the_United_States
To know more about the best community colleges in the US, you can use the resources in here – http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0709.careyessay.html
Resources:-
- No matter how much information you have, it is always advisable to seek advice from professionals who’re in the higher education business and one of the best among them is EducationUSA, the only official, U.S. government source on higher education opportunities (you can find a center near you and visit them for personal counseling) – http://www.educationusa.info/India
- A guide to studying in USA – http://www.internationalstudent.com/study_usa/
- Another guide to studying in USA - http://www.usastudyguide.com/
- A discussion thread on financial aid for international students – http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/151609-international-student-aid.html
- Why you might want to go to a community college first - http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_community_college_tuition_rate_compared_to_a_4_year_university
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