Find out below which American universities offer the best scholarships for international students.
The prices charged at U.S. universities are higher for foreign students than for American students. Even so, international students accounted for 5.5 percent of the total number of students in higher education courses in the country in the latest survey by the Institute of International Education (in the 2018-2019 academic year), injecting about $41 billion into the U.S. economy that year.
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Unlike their American counterparts, international students are often not eligible for some financial aid that can help reduce college costs. To qualify for federal student aid, for example, students must be U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens under fairly specific conditions.
But calm that also have good news …
The good news is that many colleges offer institutional help for international students. According to a U.S. News survey, about 461 U.S. universities and colleges reported providing some type of financial aid to at least 50 international students in the 2019-2020 academic year. Of that total, the average amount distributed to each student was nearly $24,<>.
But some institutions offer even higher values. Among the 10 U.S. universities that provided the most financial aid to international students in that same academic year, the average amount distributed was nearly $67,<>!
The highest average belongs to Columbia University in New York, which has awarded about 300 international students an average of just over $71,64 in financial aid. It is also worth remembering that we are talking about the most expensive private college in the country, with tuition and fees in the house of 380,2020 dollars in the academic year 2021-<>.
Profile of the TOP 10 institutions
Incidentally, all 10 American universities with the best scholarships for foreign students are private institutions and are located mainly on the East Coast of the country, in states such as New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Many of these institutions are also ranked among the top universities in the U.S. and basically fit into two distinct profiles:
- They are institutions focused mainly on research, offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral courses;
- They are Liberal Arts colleges that emphasize undergraduate education and award half (or more than half) of their degrees in the Liberal Arts fields.
Harvard for example, which according to the QS World University Rankings 2021, is the third best university in the country, provided an average of nearly $67,2019 in aid to international students in the 2020-<> academic year.
Williams College, one of the top liberal arts colleges in the U.S., distributed an average of nearly $68,5 in aid to international students in the same year.
It is also worth mentioning an institution that does not appear in the list of the 10 American universities with the best scholarships for foreign students: Arizona State University. It is the American university that provided aid to the largest number of international students among all the colleges analyzed in the year 2019-2020, awarding an average of 4,737 dollars to no less than 2,803 international students!
After all, which American universities have the best scholarships for foreigners?
Curious to see the full ranking? So check out below the 10 American universities that gave the most financial aid to at least 50 international students during the 2019-2020 academic year.
| University/College | Average financial aid intended for foreign undergraduate students in the academic year 2019-2020 | Number of international students who received financial aid in the 2019-2020 academic year | Total amount of financial aid distributed in the 2019-2020 academic year (in millions) | Position in the QS ranking among the best universities in the world | U.S.News National Liberal Arts Colleges 2021 Ranking |
| Columbia | $71,069 | 299 | $21,249,631 | 19th | — |
| Skidmore College | $70,250 | 96 | $6,744 | — | 36th |
| Amherst College | $69,434 | 133 | $9,234,722 | — | 2th |
| Dartmouth College | $68,998 | 261 | $18,008,478 | 203th | — |
| Williams College | $68,456 | 108 | $7,393,248 | — | 1th |
| Duke | $68,044 | 211 | $14,357,284 | 42th | — |
| Stanford | $68,000 | 245 | $16,660 | 2th | — |
| Wesleyan University | $67,468 | 95 | $6,409,46 | — | 20th |
| Swarthmore College | $67,165 | 67 | $4,500,055 | — | 3th |
| Harvard | $66,805 | 605 | $40,417,025 | 3th | — |
University of Exchange
These are the 10 American universities and colleges with the best scholarships for foreign students. Which one will you want to study at? Whatever your answer, the secret to winning your spot is to prepare. And we can help you with that through our expert mentoring. Want to know how?