As you can tell by the title, we have made a very bold declaration which we stand by, that YOU (dear reader), can afford a US college education. Now we’re going to spend the rest of the article showing you how you do that.

As you finish high school, you’re probably looking around and thinking the United States of America must be a nice place to get a Bachelor’s degree. You have a lot of friends who are in school in the US but you are perplexed by how they actually AFFORD living there? “Everything must be so expensive!” In these present times of a deep recession looming, your concerns are not far-fetched.

Don’t worry if you’re feeling this way. You are not alone. Afterall, the average cost of attending a four year University in the US is between $20,000 – $60,000 a year. This figure varies depending on the type of school you attend (we will discuss in a future article :)). The goal of this article however, is to attempt to shed some light on why YOU (a potential international student), can afford a US college education.

So how can one afford a US College Education?

Personal funds aside, there are generally 3 ways to pay for a US college education. Scholarships, Loans and Financial Aid, and Work-Study programs. Our personal favorite is scholarships, but we will give others a fair chance in this article.

Affordability through Scholarships

Think about scholarships as FREE money. Aka money you don’t have to pay back. More than schools in other countries, or at least where we grew up, the US tends to reward diligence and hard work. So, there are a lot of scholarships up for grabs.

There are 2 types of scholarships in general, need-based scholarships, and merit-based scholarships. Comment below if you’ve heard of any types of other scholarships we might have missed!

A) Need-Based Scholarships

A lot of Ivy-League schools and private schools tend to award need- based scholarships. These are scholarships awarded solely based on need, as the name implies. You have to demonstrate that you or your parents earn below a certain amount of money, or are going through extenuating financial circumstances and therefore will qualify you for the scholarship solely based on need.

B) Merit-Based Scholarships

Almost all other schools award merit-based scholarships. These types of scholarships are typically based on either your GPA/transcripts, Resume, and/or Essay responses to an application prompt. Every school does it differently, so this is something important to find out from the school BEFORE you apply. Note: to be considered for most merit-based scholarships you typically have to apply and be accepted to the schools. Again, it is important to do your research beforehand.

Another tactic to find scholarships is a simple google search. If you’re a Computer Science major it can be something as simple as “Scholarships for Computer Science majors”. Note that often times the results of this search are huge, and they lead to dead ends. Your school of interests’ website is really the best place to begin.

Affordability through Loans and Financial Aid

Full disclosure, loans and financial aid are the avenues we are least familiar with. Loans are funds borrowed to you that need to be paid back, while financial aid, depending on the kind may or may not be paid back.

Your future immigration consular officer for your F1 student visa application is not keen on hearing that you will be financing your education with this method, so proceed with caution. These links https://www.internationalstudentloan.com/apply/  and https://www.iefa.org/ might be a good starting point if you are interested in exploring the loans options.

Since you are an international student, you would not qualify for most of the loan options like American citizens and residents, so you need to do your due diligence. Keep in mind that loans have to be repaid, so make sure you understand the terms for doing so.

Last but not least, affordability through a work-study program

A work-study program is interesting because it allows you to work while studying at the same time. There are certain schools where working on campus could make you eligible for in-state tuition, or even make you aware of other scholarships you haven’t even, discovered yet. Research, research, research, to find this out.

Note that as an immigration rule international students can only work up to 20 hrs in a week – because the intent of a student visa is primarily to study. This money would be helpful for food expenses, and books, but might not make much of a dent with tuition fees.

These are generally the ways people pay for their College education as international students in the US. I’m sure there are other creative ways others have come up, so feel free to post a reply in the comments if something wasn’t mentioned on here! :).

Happy Applying to Colleges! Get those applications in before the deadline!