Many international students are looking for good US colleges that also offer financial aid. Here’s a list I’ve compiled from various sources on the best colleges and scholarships for internationals.
The Data (source: CollegeBoard)
- Overall, 17% of international undergraduate students in the US were awarded financial aid in 2015.
- For private, non-profit colleges, this jumps to 36%, for public colleges it was 13%, and for for-profit colleges it was just 6%.
- The numbers are getting better for internationals. In 2012, 701 US colleges awarded $796M in aid to internationals. In 2015, 815 US colleges awarded $1,165M to internationals, and the increase has been roughly linear each year.
- According to Forbes, the number of internationals at US colleges exceeded 1 million for the first time in 2016. Almost half of these are from India and China.
USN&WR’s Top 10 Schools for International Student Financial Aid
Here’s a list with some data from USN&WR from 2014. (You can find the updated numbers here (https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/slideshows/10-schools-where-international-students-get-the-most-financial-aid), but it’s in a slideshow). One thing that should jump out at you is that there aren’t that many internationals receiving aid, especially relative to the total student body size, so getting in and getting aid will both be somewhat competitive.
- Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY. 96 international students received $56,600 on average.
- Yale University, New Haven, CT. 322 international students received $55,862 on average.
- Amherst College, Amherst, MA. 154 international students received $55,673 on average.
- Williams College, Williamstown, MA. 87 international students received $55,119 on average.
- Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT. 77 international students received $54,996 on average.
- Trinity College, Hartford, CT. 166 international students received $54,788 on average.
- Columbia University, New York, NY. 176 international students received $53,972 on average.
- Stanford University, Stanford, CA. 150 international students received $53,422 on average.
- Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. 524 international students received $53,409 on average.
- Duke University, Durham, NC. 173 international students received $53,334 on average.
Full Tuition Merit Scholarships (open to international students)
These scholarships offer full tuition to international applicants based on merit. Students apply for these scholarships at the time of their application. Check the deadlines to make sure you don’t miss them.
- Carleton College – Northfield, Minnesota. Full Tuition Scholarship (up to six per year). Carleton also gives away partial tuition scholarship. In total, Carleton gave 26 international students aid last year totaling $2,589,268.
- Rice University – Houston, Texas. Allen International Scholarship. Rice students are also eligible for need-based aid. Rice gave away $1,828,575 in aid last year to 75 international students.
- University of Miami – Coral Gables, Florida. Premier Scholarship. The University of Miami also offers partial tuition merit-based scholarships. Last year the school gave away $3,318,202 to 118 international students.
- Washington and Lee University – Lexington, Virginia. Johnson Scholarship. Washington and Lee University also offers need-based aid. Washington and Lee gave away $3,640,194 last year to 73 international students.
Need Blind Schools Committed to Meeting 100% of Demonstrated Need
These five schools do not consider your ability to pay as a factor in your admissions decision. Once you are accepted, they will cover your full need whether that be a partial scholarship or full tuition.
- Harvard University – Cambridge, Massachusetts. 530 international students, $27,866,340 in aid.
- Yale University – New Haven, Connecticut. 350 international students, $18,639,436 in aid.
- Princeton University – Princeton, New Jersey. 409 international students, $16,397,219 in aid.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Cambridge, MA. 374 international students, $16,854,797 in aid.
- Amherst College – Northampton, Massachusetts. 146 international students, $7,655,287 in aid.
A Few More Comprehensive Lists
Here’s a list of 1086 colleges that disclose aid awarded to internationals (https://lendedu.com/blog/international-students-financial-aid-study). The data come from Peterson’s (https://www.petersons.com/). I believe they cross referenced the list with their rankings system so that only schools that qualified for their rankings would be included.
The Best of the Rest
Lastly, here is a much more comprehensive list of 121 of the best merit scholarships open to internationals. (http://thecollegematchmaker.com/121-of-the-best-merit-scholarships-open-to-international-students/) Note that many of these are not full tuition, but most of them are substantial. These can be a gold mine because while everyone knows that Harvard and Yale will give generous aid to internationals, very few people realize how good some of these programs are. This makes them far less competitive and great safety options as these are all very good schools.
Good luck!