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30 Merit Scholarships and Financial Aid Opportunities For International Students

There are many scholarship opportunities offered by school, and it is important to get a glimpse of what they entail. I will describe several scholarship opportunities for international students, and you can find your niche in any of them!

Below is a list of different scholarship opportunities.

1. Mastercard Foundation Scholarships– Mastercard has partnered with several schools in the US, UK, Africa and Asia. Mastercard offers full scholarships to students who qualify for them, and other than applying for the Mastercard Scholarship, a student should make an application to the school too.

2. King Mogridge Scholarship– this is a scholarship specific to the University of Wisconsin Madison. Outside the application to the school, a student should do a different application for the scholarship.

3. King Scholars Program– This is a need-based scholarship for Dartmouth University admits. It is meant for international students and it does not require any additional application. It is advisable to have an extra letter of recommendation.

4. Boston University Presidential Scholarship– there is no extra application for the scholarship, and it is advised that a student applies early enough for this one.

5. Robertson Scholars Leadership Program– this type of scholarship applies for students who have already been enrolled at Duke University and North Carolina Chapel Hill Campus. The scholarship serves as a connection between the two schools.

6. African Leadership University Presidential Grant– this a need based scholarship that is awarded to students in the school.

7. Minerva University– the school offers merit and need based financial aid, and admissions are need blind.

8. American University Emerging Global Leaders Scholarships– there is a separate application for this scholarship, and there is a need to submit English Proficiency test scores. The applications are submitted during the Regular Decision round and a GPA of 3.8 is required.

9. Clark University Presidential Merit Scholarship-this is a merit-based scholarship that is awarded to about five exceptional students who demonstrate outstanding academic and leadership achievements. The school also offers 3 smaller merit based scholarships.

10. St. Lawrence University Kenya Scholars Program– the university offers two slots to Kenyan students who meet the eligibility criteria.

11. Lincoln University International Students Scholarship– an extra application for the scholarship is required together with SAT scores and a stellar application to the school.

12. University of Arkansas– this is a one year non-renewable scholarship for students admitted to the university and applications should be sent in by March 1st.

13. Wien International Scholarship Program– this is a scholarship awarded to students accepted into Brandeis University with high grades and a strong activities profile.

14. Michigan State University– the school offers several merit-based scholarships that are mostly partial.

15. Berea College-applications to the school are done over the school’s admission portal as well as applications for the school’s financial aid. The financial aid meets the full cost of attendance for all international students in their first year.

16. Illinois Wesleyan University Presidential Scholars– the submission deadline is on February 15th and they offer four year renewable tuition scholarships

17. NYU Wagner merit based scholarship– under this, there are two scholarships, the Dean’s Scholarship and a Public Service Scholarship. Both are dependent on the strength of one’s application and academic records

18. University of Oregon– the school offers a partial scholarship that ranges from $9000-30000 annually that caters for tuition fees. A student is required to do detailed presentations to the school about his or her home country as part of the application process.

19. Wesleyan University Scholarship– the school offers full scholarships to almost 30 international students based on the strength of their applications.

20. Freeman Asian Wesleyan Program– this is a very competitive full scholarship awarded to about 11 outstanding candidates from selected countries in Asia.

21. Tulane University Global Scholarship program– the scholarship caters for tuition fees and it is awarded based on merit, and the students mostly considered are the top 20% in each class.

22. Sub-Saharan African Leadership Award– this is a scholarship program in Tulane University that is awarded to undergraduate students from Sub-Saharan Africa.

23. Hope College Trustee Scholarship– this is a partial award ranging between $24000-30000 that is aimed at covering tuition fees.

24. Meredith College Impact Scholarship– for one to be considered eligible, they are required to have attained a GPA of at least 3.4 and the scholarship amount is $20000.

25. Legacy Scholarship-this is a scholarship specific to Meredith College that covers the full cost of attendance for the four year period and requires one to have a minimum SAT score of 1500.

26. Meredith Presidential Scholarship– a merit based scholarship that covers full tuition fees and requires one to have attained at least a score of 1480 in their SAT.

27. Whitman Garret-Sherwood Scholarship-awarded based on strong academic and leadership records, meets the full cost of attendance and only 1% of the applicants are awarded the Scholarship.

28. Ashinaga Africa Initiative– a student is first required to apply to get into the initiative. Thereafter, one applies to schools in the US and the initiative pays the full cost of attendance. The initiative highly considers orphaned scholars.

29. Hillsdale College Presidential Scholarship– full cost of attendance is met for the students who are awarded the scholarship.

30. Reed College– awards scholarships to international students based on financial need. Depending on the degree of need, the scholarship can be partial or full.

Introduction to Financial Aid Application Process

The cost of attendance in US colleges and universities could be quite high. As an African student, you want to start preparing for your financial aid application process early enough.

If one doesn’t have a college board account, you need to open one. College board is a non-profit organization that enables thousands of students to submit financial aid applications and financial documents, register for the SAT examination and any other standardized test that is relevant to international students. College board is a useful platform as it also allows students to renew their financial aid annually once they are in college.

College board’s relevant components to international students explained.

The CSS profile- CSS is the acronym for College Scholarship Service, and it enables international students to submit their institutional financial aid applications. It is a long form with seventeen different sections that require a student to keenly read the questions and accurately answer them. This is because there are minimal chances to correct one’s CSS profile, and any errors made could negatively affect your financial aid application. It is also important to take note of the schools that accept CSS profiles for financial aid applications.
IDOC- This is an acronym for Institutional Documentation Service. This is a secure portal that allows students to submit requested financial documents to schools. Some of these documents include non-tax filer statements and letters from employers. Financial documents are sensitive documents and they should not be sent through email. If a school does not use IDOC, they normally provide a secure portal where one can upload the requested documents.

Preliminary preparations for financial aid application

The first step taken, as stated above, is opening a college board account. The following details are important when starting a college board account: birthday, full name, email address, a unique and strong password, graduation date from high school and your high school’s name. There is also the option of adding your parent’s details such as their email address. That way, they will receive emails from the college board too. In special cases where a student is under the age of thirteen, a parent can help them open a college board account.
After creating a college board account, it is good if a student starts to talk to his or her parents about financial documents. Start collecting bank statements and any other relevant documents from them as early as possible. You don’t want a situation where you have a few hours to a financial document submission and you are missing the document. One should also look through the CSS profile questions and ask their parents about their income, assets and expenditure.The answers they provide will come in handy when you are filling your profile for submission.
Submission of CSS profiles to schools requires a fee of $25 dollars for each school, and $16 dollars for any additional reports. It is important to note that schools provide CSS profile waiver codes for students who cannot raise the required fees. Therefore, once a student has come up with a list of schools they would like to apply to, they should send out emails to the schools as soon as possible requesting for CSS profile waiver codes. The emails are mostly addressed to the school’s financial aid office This should be done early enough because sometimes the schools run out of the waiver codes. Sending out these emails early enough will also enable a student to know if a school uses CSS profiles, and if not, the school normally responds with an alternative method of applying for their financial aid.

After all this is done, start filling out your CSS profile carefully, paying attention to details and accuracy. Read and re-read through it, ensuring that all the figures are captured accurately. Pay keen attention to the financial aid submission deadlines, so that you don’t miss any. Once you have thoroughly counter checked the details of your CSS profile, you are good to submit your application!

It is vital to keep track of your emails and applicant portal in case a school requests for a financial document.

NB- if a school does not use the CSS profile, they could be having an option of submitting an ISFAA or ISAFA form. Some schools also have a portal where one applies for financial aid. Be sure to know the kind of application that your school accepts, to avoid making any mistake.

Understanding Different Types of Financial Aid

Introduction to Financial Aid Application Process

Before I delve into these different types of financial aid, I will start by explaining what financial aid is.

Financial aid is the money used to help pay for educational expenses in college or university. This money normally comes from sponsors, institutions or the government and it caters for costs such as tuition fees, accommodation, food, devices, health insurance, transport, Visa application fees among others.

Although there is a slight difference between financial aid and scholarship, they are often used interchangeably. While scholarships are awarded based on merit or any other form of achievement such as in extracurricular activities, financial aid is often given based on a student’s financial need.

Types of Aid

1. University grants/ institutional financial aid

This is the most common type of financial aid in US colleges and universities. This type of aid does not require a student to refund it, and it is often need and/ merit based. For this type of aid, a student may be awarded full or partial aid, depending on their level of need. Applications for this type are often made through submission of CSS, ISFAA, ISAFA of a school’s financial aid application portal.

2. University loans

For this type of aid, a student is given a loan that is used to cater for their educational expenses during the four year study period. For this type of aid, different institutions have different rates of interest and what is paid back varies from school to school. While the loan may accrue interest during the four year study period in some schools, the same does not apply for other schools, and the loan only starts to accrue interest after the four year study period.

3. International student loans

we have two different categories for this type of financial aid as listed below.

US government International Student loans– this is money given by the US government to international students to cover their educational expenses while in the US. The money is in the form of a loan that should be repaid. However, this form of loan is not very common especially for international students.
Home Country loans/ Scholarships– an international student can be awarded a scholarship to study in the US by his or her home country. In other instances, they are given loans by their home countries to pursue further education in the Us. It is crucial to look up for such opportunities through the embassy in your country.

4. Work Study option

This type is mostly combined with other forms of financial aid such as institutional grants and/ institutional loans. For this form of financial aid, a student is given an on campus, and the pay is channeled towards their educational expenses. When an international student is a freshman, they are only allowed to have on campus jobs. After a student’s first year of studies, they can apply for jobs outside campus, provided that they are in line with a student’s career interests. For the latter however, a student should obtain an OPT in order to be able to work off-campus.

5. Scholarships and grants from International Organizations and Corporations

These scholarships are granted by organizations such as United nations, Coca Cola, Google, UNICEF, Mastercard and many others. These scholarships mostly cater for a student’s full cost of attendance.

College Application Timeline

As an international student who wants to study in the US, you have to start preparing for the college application process as early as you can. You don’t want to rush through the application process in a span of one week, so you better start early.

How early, and how late should I finish?

There is no correct amount of time to spend preparing for your college applications, but it is important to kick off the process as early January. It sounds crazy to start preparing in January, but we’ll see why one should actually do that.

What am I supposed to do at a certain period of the year?

To make the whole application process a smooth sail for you, I will break down the available time in months.

January-June

This is the perfect time to research schools in the US, familiarize yourself with the different types of schools, and come up with a list of colleges that you deem fit.

This is also the perfect time to study for your SAT exams, if you intend to take the test, or any other standardized test. It is important to prepare adequately for the SAT exam, and you therefore don’t have to take it as early as March. SATs have seven different test dates, and there is no pressure to take it on the first test date.

During this period, a student could also take part in volunteering exercises and internships to add to their list of extracurricular activities.

Request for school documents such as letters of recommendation and official transcripts during this time. Be sure to have all the documents set by June latest, to avoid situations where you lack school documents when deadlines are nearing.

Brainstorm ideas for your personal statement and put them down on a Google Doc. It is not advisable to directly write your essays on Common App,as they will require lots of editing and reviewing.

Lastly, talk to your parents about financial documents and the family expenditure. That way, they will get enough time to collect the documents and find the correct figures for your household expenses.

July

If you are planning to take the August SAT, this is the last month you have to work on any difficult areas. Use all the available resources to study for the upcoming SAT exam, and revise thoroughly for the same.

Should you want to go for the Early Action round, this is the time to settle on an Early Decision School and/ and Early Action School. If the schools have supplemental essays, read through the prompts, understand them and start putting down ideas for the same.

Keep working on your application: the activities, honors, gap year essay and supplemental essays.

August

The common app is opened during this period. Go through the latest version to familiarize yourself with its components and start filling it out.

Keep working on all your essays and other parts of your application

September

Keep working on your essays and entire application, keeping in mind that the deadlines are nearing.

This is the last chance for those applying for Early Decision to study for the October SAT. If you are intending to take the test in October, then study for it rigorously.

Moreover, be sure to confirm with your teachers that all your school documents are ready, and email your Early Decision school requesting for a CSS profile waiver code, if you intend to apply for financial aid.

Work on your Financial Aid application, ensuring that every detail you fill out in the CSS, IFSAA or any other financial aid application form is accurate.

October

Finish up on your application,and after thoroughly reviewing it, submit it before the deadline.

Submit your Financial Aid application as well, and embark on working on your Early Decision 2 school and Regular Decision Schools

November

Work on all the supplemental essays, and email your Regular Decision Schools Requesting for CSS profile Waiver Codes.

You could also add to your list of schools or remove a school during these period if you make any new discovery

December

Perfect all your supplements, and start submitting your application in late December to Schools with the January 1st deadline.

It is not advisable to submit your application on December 31st, because anything could happen. Systems and even devices crash. So Why don’t you just do it on time? To avoid the stress and panic that comes with the last minute rash.

Be sure to submit your financial aid applications too.

Finally, in early January, Submit your application to schools with the January 15th deadline, and follow suit with your financial aid applications.

After that, keep track of your applicant portal and emails for any new update!

Introduction to US College Application Process

Introduction to US college application process

The US college application process has become a thrilling exercise due to its simplification through different application platforms such as the Common App and the Coalition App.Traditionally, students had to physically mail their applications across the Atlantic via DHL or UPS. However, these new electronic ways have made it simpler and more convenient.

What is Common App ?

This is an online platform that enables students to submit college applications electronically to more than one school. A student fills out the profile once, and it is submitted to many different schools. One can use the common App to apply to many different schools, owing to the numerous partnerships that the Common App has with Universities and Colleges in the US.

Opening a Common App Account

It is absolutely free of charge to start a common app account, and below is a list of all you need to fill out!

Your name
Email Address
Phone Number
Address
Home Country
Setting a password for your Common App Account
Answering the required few questions

Opening a Common App Account

It is absolutely free of charge to start a common app account, and below is a list of all you need to fill out!

Your name
Email Address
Phone Number
Address
Home Country
Setting a password for your Common App Account
Answering the required few questions

Once you have all these, then you are good to go!

Opening a Common App Account can be done as early as you would wish to, but it only opens in August for the subsequent year’s Fall admission applications. Essentially, you can only start filling out different parts of the Common App in August. Any work done before that will be lost once the Common App is renewed in August. It is therefore crucial to start working on your Common App after August 1st.

Parts of the Common App

Below is a glimpse of the different parts of the Common App and what they entail

Profile

In this section, one is required to fill in the following: personal information, address, contact details, demographics-in this part you fill out your gender and your identity in terms of race-language, your nationality and application for the common app fee waiver.

Family

All that is needed for this part is the nature of your parent’s household, i.e , their marital status, their occupation and highest levels of education. In addition to that, sibling information is also required in this section.

Education

This is one of the sections that requires a student to pay keen attention to it while filling it. Carefully fill out the high schools you attended, the courses you took and the level of course difficulty, taking note of the required gap year essay if you took any. If a student is in college already, they are required to give the number of courses they are taking.One can also report up to a maximum of five honors, while including the levels of recognition. It is in this section that

one talks about their future educational plans also.

Testing

Test Scores for SAT, ACT, IB, Duolingo English Test and many more are reported here. Some schools have adopted a policy of applying test-optional and there is that option by clicking on the ‘No’ option. One also self reports senior secondary school leaving examination scores here.

Activities

This is an area that has an influence on your admission decisions and should be handled with uttermost attention.Here, one is supposed to fill in the activities they took part in while in high school, mentioning the type, leadership position, organization name, a brief description of the activity, grade of participation, the timing of participation, and the time spent on every activity.

Writing

The writing section of the Common App is of great significance in the entire application process. This is the section where one writes their personal statement by responding to one prompt from the seven prompts. Most schools require that one submits a personal statement, and it is of great importance that you do a good essay. The additional information section allows one to talk about any other thing they feel would have an influence on their admission decision.

Courses and Grades

For the schools that require this, a student is supposed to fill out exactly what is in their official high school transcript.

Recommenders

Because a student cannot submit their own recommendations, they are required to invite a teacher to complete the submission of recommendations for them. This is done by inputting the teacher’s email address, name and the subject they taught you.

-This is not all about the Common App. It also has a tab called Financial Aid where one gets guidance on how to apply for the different scholarships applicable to them.

The Coalition App on the other hand was majorly started to serve students from underrepresented groups. It has fewer partnerships with schools compared to the Common App, but for schools that accept the two, one does not have an advantage over the other.

A student should therefore carefully evaluate the two before settling on the most appropriate platform to use.

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