Need-based scholarships for American Universities.

[wireman]

Hi, I plan on applying to universities in USA for a course in either Economics or Business Administration.

I was wondering if anyone knew if there are universities that offer need-based or IB-based scholarships to students not living in USA.

[Guest CasaNova]

Only Ivy league.. there are no others.. only they are able to offer you Need based fin aid.. believe me

and.. nowadays in times of economic crisis and problems they accept mostly people who can pay

believe me

i am a living proof that one girl was accepted on Oxford only because she could pay for studies.. surely not because of her academic results

[wireman]

Are you sure? So are you saying, I must completely not consider USA at all?

I have a friend who's studying at the United World College of India. She told me that almost 30% of the people almost study for free because apparently UWC students are given a ton of preference. Is there absolutely any chance of me, a student studying in a private school , getting any form of aid in a business school in USA?

[Emmi]

I live in the USA and went through the applications/financial aid process here so maybe I can shed some light on this. It really depends on where you are applying to uni; some offer really really good financial aid and others not very much at all. I know it's pretty tough for an international student to get decent financial aid in the US because most of what unis do have (which really isn't a lot due to the economic crisis) goes towards US students.

Ivy Leagues tend to do pretty well in giving financial aid, if you can get into them. That's not always necessarily the case, but they seem to be good.

Private universities sometimes can give a lot of financial aid to bring the costs of tuition, board, etc down. Some private unis award a lot of financial aid, while others are awful.

State/public universities are also iffy. For students that live in the state the financial aid can be good, or it can be awful. For out-of-state or international students they may offer decent financial aid or they might not at all and require you to pay for everything. But don't assume that because it's a state university or public university it sucks. There are many well-respected, prestigious public universities all over the country that are just as good as, if not better, than private unis and are comparable to Ivy League schools. Some examples that immediately come to mind are University of Virginia, UC-Berkeley, University of Michigan, and University of North Carolina.

Try looking around for a list of unis that offer good financial aid to internationals. Usually having very good IB scores and grades can earn you a merit scholarship or two, which can help bring down the cost of attending.

[Forester]

first of all - economics and business administration are very different.

undergraduate business schools in the US offer very little financial aid, especially to international students. The two that comes to mind that gives out aid: sloan (MIT), wharton (UPenn). but these two schools are the best. hands down. so if you manage to get in, then the universities will probably try their hardest to make it possible for you to study there.

if you are doing economics however, you have more options. yes the ivy league universities do offer great financial aid packages (except cornell). other colleges that offer great aid include stanford, mit, and a lot of liberal arts colleges such as williams, amherst, middlebury, swarthmore, colgate, colby, the list goes on. (when i say good i mean 35k and above a year). remember not all of these schools are need blind, meaning that if you require financial aid, you have a tougher time getting in.

there are also a lot of ib based merit scholarships at the university of rochester, canadian universities and many more if you google. ib scholarships tend to be merit based and not need based.

lastly, UWC has their own need/merit based scholarships, which combined with the financial aid packages of US universities, makes it possible for many UWC graduates to study for free. and yes, UWC graduates are preferred when it comes down to college admissions for international students.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Victor L