Tackling Funding for Foreign Students in the US

Studying in the US is a very expensive undertaking. The cost of living in the US is astronomical compared to many of the nations that foreign students hail from. You'll also find that you don't have access to the same resources that US students enjoy and that the resources you do have access to will be hotly contented for.

In the US, students have access to work-study programs, grants for disadvantaged students and many other programs. You won't have access to these as a foreign student. Your acceptance at the university, of course, will require that you provide evidence that you can pay for your studies and your expenses. This means that you'll need some source of outside funding, provided that your parents cannot afford to pay for your education themselves.

In some cases, the university will have jobs for international students. This can be a good source of funding to help you support your living costs, such as food, rent and so forth. These programs allow for a limited work schedule-only 20 hours per week-and they'll pay minimum wage. In the US, that means the wage will be around $7 US per hour. This isn't much money at all, but it's enough to pay for food, clothes and supplies if you live on campus. Off campus living on this money may be a stretch.

For most international students, the best places to get funding are scholarships, fellowships and grants. There are international foundations-the Soros Foundations Network, for example-that offer these programs. You can search an online database of them at the International Education Financial Aid Foundation website. Look for scholarships that fit you and your accomplishments.

Your university will require documentation of your funding sources before they'll issue you an I-20. You'll have to have a guarantee letter endorsed by a bank and you'll have to provide contact information for all your sources of funding. This goes along with your application to the school.

When you're at the university, keep an eye out for work in the various academic departments. In some cases, some of the skills you have may prove useful to the university. You may speak a very uncommon language, for instance, that a department needs help teaching. You may also be able to get work off-campus, but this can be time consuming and detract from your studies.