International Student Admissions

There are a few simple ways to reduce the total amount of funding required for U.S. study. The first and simplest technique (which requires a bit of foresight while the student is still in High School) is to take Advanced Placement (AP) Exams. A good enough score in these exams will give a student college level credit. If enough courses are successfully completed a student can reduce the number of years of study required when they actually attend college. With some colleges costing around the $50 000 mark, this can be a substantial saving! A nice summary report on this technique can be found here. To check a college’s AP credit policy, you can visit the College Board and search by college name (90% of colleges do accept AP credits). We will be discussing AP Exams in a lot more detail in a later post.

The next technique is a bit more complicated and deserves a dedicated post of its own. Simply put this technique involves a student attending a Community College (CC) for part of their studies and then transferring to a regular 4-year college. CCs are typically a LOT cheaper than 4-year Colleges and so the ability to study at a CC for 2 years and then subsequently transfer and graduate from a 4-year college has a lot of financial benefits. Many students falsely believe that these transfer arrangements are to inferior 4-year colleges - this is far from the truth. Colleges like Cornell are among the many excellent 4-year colleges that permit and encourage transfers from CC.

The Institute of International Education states that approximately 65% of student funding for college comes from “Personal and Family Funds”. This means on average international students and/or their families have to provide 65% of the funding required to study in the U.S. The proportion of funding that colleges contribute stands at a scant 23% - a tiny amount when one considers how expensive U.S. college study can be. The cost of studying in the U.S. is very expensive, that said there are a few options that students and parents can explore to lighten the heavy financial load.

The first step in looking at financial aid is to calcualte exactly how much the studies will cost. Many students make the mistake of believing that the only thing they need to consider when deciding what school best fits their financial situation is to look at the tuition – this is incorrect. There are a wide variety of costs that students need to consider before they decide that U.S. study is right for them.

Here is a partial list of these costs that should be included -  

- Application fees
- Test/entrance exam fees (e.g., TOEFL)
- Visa/SEVIS fees
- Tuition and fees
- Room and board (accommodation and food)
- Books and supplies (including laptop, CDs, paper, etc.)
- Travel to the United States
- Travel within the United States
- Health and medical insurance
- Personal expenses during term-time for on-campus accommodation   (including clothing, telephone charges, entertainment, and leisure); and personal expenses during term breaks for on-campus accommodation (including travel, food, extra housing fees, telephone charges, entertainment, and leisure)

Doing solid reseach and building up a realistic budget will go a long way in helping you estimate your study costs. NAFSA has created a sample budget to help guide students in this process while EduPASS provides estimates of the typical costs international students may encounter.

Coming in Part 2 – Easy Ways to Reduce the Costs of Study.