Grants for International Students
Coming to Study in the United States?
Every year over half a million international students take up academic studies within the United States. Not only does the United States offer a diverse economic and social structure, but the versatility of colleges and universities along with unending possibilities for academic studies makes this country desirable for foreign students.
According to statistics the college education typically available within the U.S. compared to that of other countries is one of the most accessible and affordable for the return on investment. Most international students use significant amounts of their own savings to fund their American college experience.
Grants and scholarships are available, but they are extremely competitive. Many grants for international students are intended to award study monies to the best and brightest who will be an asset to an American university program, often in a certain degree major or specialized area of study.
The Fulbright Grants
One of the most familiar names in scholarships and grant programs is Fulbright. Founded in 1946 by the U.S. State Department, the Fulbright Program provides millions of dollars in grants to teachers, graduate students, and doctoral students, both international and American to study and teach here or abroad. The goal of the program, established right after WWII, was to create an educational as well as cultural exchange among the best minds in academia.
Nearly 1500 international Fulbright grantees study within the United States each year. They can apply for consideration through their country's embassy.
Grants and Expenses
International students who are accepted to colleges and universities within the United States not only pick up the tab from their own savings in many instances, but they are also met with more expenses than their American counterparts. Most must add on expenses such as transportation and health insurance.
The Overseas Association for College Admission maintains a comprehensive list of American colleges and universities, including data on numbers of hosted international students, average grant award and total expenditure per institution. Millions of dollars are awarded annually for international exchange students, and still many do not qualify.
The Institute of International Education (IIE) maintains a database of U.S. study grants and scholarships. The list includes the most prestigious, such as the Fulbrights, to the more ambiguous and specialized, such as the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography.
