Tag: scholarships

Today, we are going to look at various ways to fund your education (BS, MBA or MS in USA) through scholarships or study abroad in select countries where education costs are nearly zero (yes, that is correct!).

One of the major challenges of studying abroad is the hefty tuition fee and living expenses that it entails. If we look at the cost of studying in countries like USA and UK, it can go up to 100,000 USD. Hence, it is not surprising that almost every student going abroad looks for financial support.

Without further ado, here is what we cover in this post:

1. How can I get scholarship for studying abroad – Steps to find the right scholarship for yourself
2. What are the scholarships available for Indian students – A list of generic and country specific scholarships that you can apply to
3. Where can you study abroad for low fee – A list of countries where you can practically study for free

How can I get scholarship for studying abroad?

Before we jump into various scholarships, here is our advice on finding the right study abroad scholarship for yourself.

What study abroad scholarships are available for Indian students?

Scholarships are great to get if there are no strings attached. However, in my experience of 15 years, I have noticed there is no free lunch. Almost all the scholarships have some kind of strings attached – some are interest-free loans disguised as scholarship (eg. J N Tata Loan Endowment Scholarship), some are contingent on you studying particular stream of subjects, and most are available only to under-privileged families who have no other means of supporting their education.

So, while there appears to be a long list of scholarships advertised in the market, I have found only few to be feasible for an average candidate. Still, if you look closely and go through various forums and keep an eye on the news, you may find something that you can use.

Let’s look at various scholarships that Indian students can avail. Most of them vary in their extent as well criteria for qualification. So, go through the requirements individually and shortlist the ones that can be applicable in your case.

A. Indian scholarships for studying abroad

B. Country specific scholarships for studying abroad

Now, we take a look at some of the country specific scholarships that are given by the governments or agencies in a particular country. The purpose of these scholarships are to encourage incoming students in their schools. For example, British Council offers GREAT scholarship to people coming to study in UK.

Where can you study abroad for low cost?

Believe it or not, it is possible to study abroad in few countries that heavily subsidize their education. If cost is the most important criterion for you, look at these countries first:

So, there are a lot of options to avail if you wish to study abroad without breaking your bank. Make use of the various study abroad scholarships listed above.

Do note that many a times, you are able to land assistantships in graduate schools in USA which makes your education 25-100% free. But if you want to be more conservative in your financial planning, there are many countries where you can study for free.

Discover multiple ways to finance your education abroad whether you are going for MBA or MS in USA. While the education in USA seems prohibitively costly at first glance, there is good news – there is high possibility of funding if you can get into a reputed grad school. You can finance your MS or MBA education abroad by understanding how it works.

Using Grad School funds to finance your education abroad

Universities and Professors in USA are funded by government and other agencies that invest in research; these funds are, in turn, used to support research students. Except when recession hits the funding grants, schools do try their best to support as many PhD students as possible. This is the reason why getting funding in PhD is easier than getting for Master’s because it is understood that PhD students are contributing more towards research.

Similarly Master’s in Engineering schools has more grants and research funding than Management oriented programs such as MIS/MEM and MBA. MBA is practically not funded because the goal of a MBA grad is to join corporate world and not research. Schools are more likely to fund students working closely in research.

1. Scholarships

These are the monetary awards given to students based on some qualifications, which could be academic excellence or extra curricular talent (sports related scholarships). There might be additional qualifications for these awards such as nationality, ethnic background, gender etc. These can be given in the form of a one-time cash award or be yearly covering your length of study. A school may have few such scholarships and they might ask for a separate application for these scholarships. Given the competition and scarcity of such awards, it is better to not bank on one. However, do find out about these especially if your academic record is excellent.

2. Tuition waivers

Sometimes, a school may offer full or partial tuition waiver to few students. It is usually awarded in conjunction with teaching or research assistantships (see below). A student still needs to pay other kind of fee (health insurance, administrative, library etc.) as tuition waivers only cover the tuition fee. These are most likely announced along with the news of your admission. For example, Case Western Reserve University typically offers 40- 50% tuition waiver at the time of sending the admission letter to its MEM students. In this case, the I-20 will only show remaining tuition fee to be paid by the student.

3. Assistantship

This is the most common form of funding offered by the graduate school to its admitted students especially PhD students. Getting an assistantship involves getting a cash stipend in return for some work that you do officially in the school itself. Normally, a student is allowed to work up to 20 hours per week. These are frequently combined with a full/partial tuition waivers in research oriented programs such as MS. However, assistantships offered in MIS/MEM programs may be only paid hourly and not include a tuition waiver (exceptions apply). There are three main kind of assistantships:

4. Grants

These are similar to scholarships but awarded solely based on the financial need of a student. American universities may offer several forms of government-supported grants but these are usually available only to American citizens.

How to finance your education abroad using external funding

There are other types of funding that you can look for outside what is offered by the school. These include:

1. External Scholarships/Fellowships – You can look for scholarships offered by private organizations external to your school as well. We have covered a detail of all study abroad scholarships available to Indian students in our blog. These are given to students with exceptional records and pass some qualifying criteria. To compete for these, you have to fill out a separate application which usually includes writing few essays explaining why you deserve the scholarship and how will you use it.
   All reputed universities often have a database of merit-based scholarship and fellowship opportunities available to its students.
   For example, University of Washington lists it at Student Financial Aid. Other than that, you can search on Internet for opportunities available to you. Scholarships In India 2016, Fellowships In India 2016, Internships In India 2016, Financial Aid For Education 2016, Students Grants For Schools And Colleges, Scholarships 2016 lists a lot of active scholarships in India.
   Fulbright Program is one of the most reputed scholarships available worldwide on a merit basis. As expected, there is a lot of competition for these awards.
2. On-campus jobs – These include helper positions on campus such as the school library, dining hall, housing office, bookstore etc. and allow international students to work up to 20 hours per week. Students working in these jobs are paid hourly (usually sufficient to cover living expenses) and do not get tuition waivers. These are the least preferred form of funding since they do not usually involve building any valuable skills.
3. Bank loans – Lastly, if nothing else works out, a student has to look for loans to finance her education. There are a lot of loan schemes now available but most of them are processed only once you receive an admit. Since loan processing takes a long time, it is advisable to start early.

What if I do not receive any funding from the university at the time of admission?

Do not write off your funding chances just yet. These days, schools have stopped giving funding except to PhD students but it does not mean that you cannot find one after being admitted. In most cases, Master’s (especially MIS/MEM) students will not receive funding at the time of admission.

First, you should have done some research on funding possibility at a school before deciding to apply for it. This includes contacting current students and recent graduates and asking them how did they fund their education. If you hear favorable funding news (let’s say multiple students tell you that they received some form of funding after reaching the campus), then you can still consider attending this school and hunting for funding after arriving on campus. The downside to this is that you still need to manage and show higher finances for your visa interview since you have no funding to show to the visa officer.

Many students take a loan if they cannot show sufficient personal funds and go to the school. There, they start looking for funding and return the loan as soon as they find it. This is what I did because I had not received any financial assistance when I was admitted to UIUC. However, it is a risk and you must do some background research on how likely it is to find funding before making such a decision. Again, if you have shortlisted schools after proper research, you would have applied only to the schools where you can manage the finances.

These are some ways how you can finance your education abroad. With a little proactive preparation, you can manage some sort of funding sooner or later.

We have covered funding, finances, employment opportunities, application strategies more comprehensively in MS BOOK: Smart Engineer’s complete guide to MS in USA