Financial Aid Basics for Advising Undergraduate International Students

Financial aid is perhaps the largest barrier students face when studying outside their home countries. This financial aid resource is designed to help international education professionals who advise students. This resource provides information primarily for nonimmigrant students (F-1, J-1, M-1, etc.). Information for permanent residents of the United States is also included.

The Institute for International Education (IIE) reports in Open Doors 2005 that of the paid tuition and fees to attend a U.S. undergraduate institution in the 2004-05 academic year, 80.9 percent of payments came from personal and family sources.

 

Minimal scholarship aid is available to international students, and most of it is reserved for graduate study. Generally, U.S. institutions offer little, if any, discount on tuition. Some public institutions will charge international students in-state tuition rather than charging out-of-state tuition and fees. Both private and public institutions may waive application fees in some situations.

This document is also available as Web pages.

Table of Contents

• Financial Aid Packaging
• Cost of Attendance
• Funding Options
• Independent Sources of Aid
• Personal Resources
• Advising Timeline Considerations
• Packaging Tools
• Tax Credit Information
• Citizenship Status
• Additional Web Site Resources

NAFSA gratefully acknowledges the Lee Foundation for underwriting this project.