I am an international student from Canada. On the Commonapp, If you want to be considered for scholarships, do you still say yes when they ask if you want financial aid or no. Some schools don’t allow international students to get financial aid, but do allow them to receive scholarships. Do scholarships count as financial aid?
In a general sense, yes, scholarships are one kind of financial aid.
You might want to dig into the specifics of your school(s). Often merit awards or scholarships are awarded by the admissions office or the departments, and they’d have no idea if you had financial need or applied for aid. Need based financial aid is usually awarded by the financial aid office.
You’ll probably have to check the ‘yes’ box. If you aren’t eligible for FA, they’ll let you know.
I think you might want to be wary of checking that box if any of the schools where you’re applying are need-aware for international students. You want your application to stay in the “full pay” pile if you’re not applying for need-based aid.
You can research school-based scholarships yourself. Don’t be afraid to send an email to a school if you have questions that aren’t answered on the website. Make it clear that you are full pay but interested in learning about merit aid opportunities.