4 types of financial aid to apply for as an international student

Many international student who seek sponsorship to continue higher education don’t know the particular types of scholarship that are available that they can apply for.

The majority of international students who have met me for advice about getting a scholarship to study abroad have sometimes found it difficult to differentiate between different types of scholarships. I know that scholarships are really important for international students and that is why I created this post to help you know the different types of scholarship you can apply for.

Also, not knowing the various kinds of scholarships may have a significant impact on the type of scholarship you finally get since most scholarship providers don’t allow international students to combine different scholarships at a time, and because of this I will try to explain as much as possible so you can know them.

Firstly, let me state that the different types of scholarships I mentioned here are available for all students. Also, it is easier to get a scholarship if you:

• are doing excellently well in your studies, what I mean is if you finished high school with excellent grades you will be considered for many admission scholarship.
• have evidence that you have financial need, perhaps your parents or sponsor’s bank statements showing they don’t have much to see you through college.
• have an obvious physical disability (although we don’t pray for that), but what I mean is students that have obvious physical disabilities are are often considered for scholarship.

Although all students are equally considered for scholarship opportunity, the illustration above was just to make a little point.

4 types of scholarship you can apply for as an international student

As I said earlier, knowing the types of scholarship is very important so that you can plan well. Also, most schools abroad don’t allow students to have two or more scholarships, although some allow it but most don’t.

1. Scholarships

Scholarships are financial and non-financial aids given to students to help them support themselves in the university/college. That said, scholarships for higher education are mostly available in advanced countries because of the high quality education on offer, resulting in a lot of persons seeking to study in those developed countries among other benefits of studying abroad.

I recall mentioning that scholarships could be financial or non-financial. This is because there are various types of scholarships:

• Tuition-fee scholarship; this covers your entire tuition fee in the university where the value of the scholarship will be applied automatically to your tuition fee so don’t expect to receive the money in hand. Let me also bring to your notice that there are full tuition fee scholarships which cover your whole fees as well as partial fee scholarship (50%) which covers part of your tuition fee. Also, it could be just a year tuition scholarship or for the entire duration of your undergraduate or postgraduate course.
• Accommodation scholarship; covers funding for where you will stay during your time in school. Just as with tuition-fee scholarship, the value of the accommodation scholarship is automatically applied toward your living space in school which is often a space in the university/college hall of residence, so don’t expect to receive money in hand.
• first-year scholarship: this is primarily for home or international students commencing full-time studies on an undergraduate postgraduate course in college, and is awarded automatically on admission into school.
• Full scholarship; the most lucrative of them all, from my experience studying in Australia on full scholarship from 2016 to 2019, it covers basically your tuition-fee, accommodation, books, research, medical insurance, and living costs. Some other scholarship providers like the government go further to fund your visa and air ticket to and from your country of study. I won’t forget to mention that the living costs in full-tuition scholarship include money-in-hand from time to time to cater for yourself in college. All international students prefer this one, me too. Get this eBook if you want to study abroad on full scholarship. International applicants, first year international students, and existing international students can apply for these scholarships.

Need a full scholarship? Check out how to get a full scholarship to study abroad.

2. Study grant

I define study grants as relatively small amount of money that helps you support your education in college. Most international bodies and non-governmental organizations award study grants to international students. A course-mate of mine, Patrick was a beneficiary of a study grant from an agency when we were in college at University of Sydney in Australia. He was paid a one-time grant of $5,000 from which he took care of most of the basic needs that time.

Study grants can come in different forms depending on the grant provider, like books grant, research-grant, travel-grant, and anything else. Basically, they are one-time or two-times payment by agencies to international students to help continue academic activities in college.

Study grants are often awarded to new home and international students commencing studies.

3. Bursary

From my experience, bursaries are financial awards given to home or international students who are already registered students of universities or colleges around the world whether in their home country or abroad. Recipient of bursaries are electronically paid money-value with which they can take care of basic expenses that come with taking higher education.

I have seen a number of people including seven persons among our subscribers here who are beneficiaries of bursary scheme in college and there is one thing common to them – they are all from second year and above. Bursary schemes require students to have attained a stated GPA/CGPA (as determined by the bursary provider) after first year to be eligible to apply.

Bursaries are available to registered college/university students and are not open to new students on admission nor first-year students.

You can have me send bursary, grant, and new scholarship notifications to your mail at no cost, all you need do is provide me with your email.

4. Student loans

One common way of getting funding in college is through student loans, particularly those studying in the UK. These loans are offered by universities and colleges as a way of reducing the financial burden of going through college on home and international students, and this way they lend money to students to fund basic costs like tuition which they have to pay back overtime once in a better financial position.

Student loans are available for international students in most universities abroad, although they are much more common in the UK. Amazingly, you are not required to pay back the loans in some instances and it all depends on the terms you agreed to when applying for the student loan, although there are limited amounts you can be lent and it’s a one-time thing, so don’t expect to borrow a million dollars. See how to to apply to a UK university.

In Canada, things are more viable due to various funding options available in the international-student friendly country. If Canada is a possible study-destination in your mind, I advice you go through my article on what you need to know about studying in Canada to enable you dot your i (s) and cross your ts. Studying in USA provide a little bit more since there are many jobs for international students in USA.

Only registered students of a college or university can apply for student loans, including registered first-year students and one good thing about these loans as I have witnessed is that you can combine it with other funding options, that is if you are a current beneficiary of a scholarship, grant, or bursary you can still keep your funding source.

These are the funding options available for intending international students and registered home and international students to study in College/university. Depending on your financial need, chose the funding option you need since most of them can’t be combined with other funding options, except student loans which can be combined with other scholarships, grants or bursaries.

Your dream of studying abroad is not beyond you. Make adequate plans now that you know the different types of scholarships, and go on to achieve your dream. Feel free to leave a comment below so I can have your thoughts and if there be any question, bring it on. I’m happy to help. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Maxwell Tega

Maxwell is a Dietitian with passion for showing people hope. With nearly a decade experience helping people make key decisions on education and career, you can find him almost everywhere on this site. From answering admission and scholarship questions to creating tutorials and helping others live their best lives though nutrition. Connect with me on Twitter.