Internationalstudents who aspire to pursue graduate studies in the United States have manypossible options to obtain financial aid for their education. Do not bemisinformed on the notion that universities in the U.S. do not offer financialaid to graduate international students. The best way to find out is to checkout the schools themselves, making sure that you have found out whether theuniversities you have chosen have programs available that can help fund yourgraduate studies.
Dig a little deeper – While it is true that graduate schoolfinancial aid for international students is smaller compared to those forAmerican students, that does not mean you can only go for that small of a pot.Explore the financial aid opportunities at a variety of schools. You may needto consider attending a different university or spend some time working apartfrom studying. Apart from school-based aid, you can also look into loan andscholarship opportunities in your home country, in the private sector, andonline.
Assistantship programs – Graduate school financial aid alsocome in form of tuition waivers to students who participate in teaching andresearch assistantships in the school. These are usually awarded based onacademic merit, not financial need, so you will need to prove to the departmentyou have the skills needed. Check with the university whether assistantshipprograms are available. These programs usually offer limited slots, so applyearly if you are interested.
International student exchange programs – Many universitiesalso participate in international student exchange programs, wherein someschools even offer financial aid for participating students. Look into exchangeprograms through universities in your home country to know more about theirexchange programs and any financial aid they may offer.
CPT program – International graduate students may be ableto obtain full-time work in the United States through the Curricular PracticalTraining (CPT) program. While immigration laws allow graduate schools in theU.S. to offer work that qualifies as CPT, only a few schools that have programsfor this. The CPT is sort of a paid internship since the jobs are related toyour field of study. Students work for up to 40 hours a week and have to juggleclasses in between.