Q. Are there any full scholarships for international students? If they are exceptional?

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1 Undergraduate Financial Aid Guest Speaker: Catrillia Young, SUNY Plattsburgh Date: December 8, 2010 from 7am 8am Q. How many students did you support in 2010? A. Young: Every student that was admitted was offered financial aid last year. That was approximately 130 students. We have 400 international students total at SUNY Plattsburgh. Q. Are there any full scholarships for international students? If they are exceptional? A. No, there are no full scholarships for international students or U.S. citizens. Q. I'm from Ukraine. The director of local EducationUSA Advising Center told me that the chances of getting a financial aid for Neuroscience major are very low. Is that true? Do you have any suggestions? What majors do have higher chances of being fully supported? A. Hi there, I don't know many schools with neuroscience at the undergraduate level. It might be harder to get aid, however, I don't think it's impossible. I would contact the schools that offer that major to find out more. There's not one particular major that has better funding, it's the institution's ability to offer aid that matters most. A Regarding the question from Ukraine, are a student's chances of getting undergraduate financial aid subject to his or her planned major? I have not heard of this issue before, and I've been in advising for a long time. A. No, in general, students are offered financial aid based on academic merit, etc., however, there are certain scholarships at various institutions that are based on the student's anticipated major. This is not as common, though. Q. I'm very sorry that I joined you 10 minutes ago and could you please tell me when will be the next session if it will be at all. Thank you A. We have another session at 4pm (EST) in Washington DC today Q. Do you offer small loans to international students who do not have a US cosigner, and if so, how much money are they usually offered? Thank you! A. No, at SUNY Plattsburgh we don't have loans available to international students. Q. Are the scholarships taxed? A. No, students do not have to fill out special tax forms for the scholarships that they receive at my school. Q. How much do we pay? if we get the highest amount of scholarships?

2 A. This depends on the cost of tuition, your living expense, and how much aid the college awarded you. Full funding is typically 90% of those costs - partial funding will of course be less. Q. Hello, does Oberlin college offers full financial aid to international students? A. Not sure about Oberlin - but you can check directly with their International Student Admissions Office Q. 90% of tuition or overall cost? A. overall cost Q. What is the percentage of international students at SUNY Plattsburg receiving aid? A. SUNY Plattsburgh provides financial aid to nearly all of our international students. Q. can u answer questions regarding admissions? A. sure - and please include your questions about financial aid as well Q. What sports scholarships do you offer? A. SUNY Plattsburgh is an NCAA Division III school. This means we are not allowed to offer financial aid for sports. Colleges and universities that are NCAA Division I or II are allowed to offer sports scholarships. Q. how i will get full scholarship? is it possible? A. It is possible to get a full scholarship which will pay over 90% of your total costs. You will need to check with the school you want to apply for requirements, types of aid, and if they offer full scholarships Q. What is the employment policy for int'l students? A. Intl students are permitted to work up to 20 hours per week and typically earn about $2000 USD per year. Optional Practical Training also allows full time students to receive practice internship training in the field they are studying. Check with the schools you want to apply about these opportunities. Q. I am applying for undergraduate course. I want funding both tuition and living expenses. Kindly let me know is it possible for me to get funding for both? If so how much? What is the deadline? A. Yes, we do offer scholarships that help with tuition and on-campus living expenses. The average award is $4,500 per academic year. We accept students until we have no space available for the semester. Q. is there any list of universities those provide need based aid to international students? A. Check with your local EducationUSA advising center (wwww.educationusa.state.gov). They would be able to tell you more about which schools typically offer aid.

3 Q. would you tell us, please, how effective it would be to receive financial aids, if international students apply to US schools as a transfer students or freshman ones? A. SUNY Plattsburgh offers financial aid to freshman and transfer students. In general, if a school offers financial aid they will probably offer it to both freshman and transfer applicants. Q. Is it possible to receive financial help from organizations in the U.S. or other countries? A. Yes, both U.S. and Foreign organizations such as companies and foundations may offer aid. Check with your local EducationUSA Adviser and the ''Finance Your Studies'' section on our website at Q. What s the difference between colleges that are need blind and colleges that are full need met? A. Need blind aid means a student will be considered for financial aid even if they do not require additional funding. Meeting a student's full need means that a school will consider how much a student can afford to pay and then the institution will provide the rest of the money the student must pay to afford to study at that institution. Q. How important are SAT/ACT and TOEFL scores? A. Whenever possible, I encourage students to take these kinds of exams. The SAT and ACT are often used to determine who will receive academic merit awards. Many schools will consider international students for admission even if they don't take these exams, but they may not consider these applicants for certain kinds of scholarships. Q. Is there any way to get a loan without a cosigner in the USA A. You will typically need a US cosigner to borrow from a US lender. Asking a relative or family friend who is a US citizen is common. Q. If a college can t meet full need, will it reject the student outright or will it ask the student to look for other sources of funds? A. It really depends on the institution. I think that would be a fair question to ask early in the application process. That way the student can properly prepare. Q. What do all universities require?(like TOEFL) A. Merit Based Aid will look at your personal characteristics, special talents, athletic abilities, academic achievements, leadership skills and so on. Need based will consider your family income and other merits as well. Check with the school you want to apply for specific requirements and types of aid offered. Q. Hi, I am Parviz from Tajikistan, what kind of organizations provide fin. aid. to competitive international students with highest academic records?

4 A. This will depend on the organization - some focus on certain majors or attributes of the student applying. Q. In case student is unable to afford the full cost of attendance even with the financial aid offered, do you maybe have any advice where to look for outside sources for scholarships for international students? A. I would definitely advise going to the websites suggested on the Education USA website. There may also be scholarships available in your home country that you could use to help with the cost of studying in the US. Q. If the tuition goes up, will the scholarship increase by the same amount? A. No, at SUNY Plattsburgh we are unable to increase the scholarships we have awarded students if the tuition goes up. Q. what is the solution of student if not understand the English A. Many US colleges and universities offer conditional enrollment, meaning you can study English at the college and be enrolled after passing the course and English test Q. what are the cheapest universities in USA A. To lower costs, many students begin at a 2 year public community college and then transfer to complete the last two years at a public or private 4 year college Q. Are there any jobs available on campus for international students? A. There are jobs available for international students on campus. The student can work in an office setting, food service, or a variety of other positions. These jobs usually help with the cost of books and small expenses. Q. have you got masters degrees in business at SUNY Plattsburgh A. We have a Master s of Science in Leadership: Q. there is foundation courses in various uk universities. Do you have any such courses? A. no, we do not have foundation courses like those in the UK. The US system is not designed for that: students can enter American colleges and universities directly from Q. What's the difference between funds and loans? A. I think you're asking the difference between financial aid funds and loans. Loans must be paid back and there is usually interest charged for the loans you've received. Scholarships and grants offered from the college or university do not need to be paid back.

5 Q. is education in USA offer opportunity to take the permanent residence in USA and be American citizen if I get graduation certificate from any universities there?? A. The intent should be returning to your home country after your studies. You can remain in the US on an internship or employment if offered a work visa. Q. Some colleges say that they meet full need. Do they mean the need calculated by them or the need demonstrated by students via ISFAA and CSS/profile? A. They usually mean the need calculated based on a financial aid application, however, this can vary. Q. Are we allowed to choose our jobs at university, or do we have to do what the university forces us to? A. You will have a choice among the jobs available to students - you will only need to be qualified and hired for that job. Q. are there additional financial aid opportunities after the first year in SUNY Plattsburgh basing on academic success? A. There are additional scholarships that a student can qualify for after the first year at SUNY Plattsburgh, but there are not that many. This is because US citizens, permanent residents and international students are competing for the same awards. Q. Do you offer need based scholarships> A. SUNY Plattsburgh does offer need-based scholarships from $500-$2,500 per academic year. Q. If were are admitted on ED, can we drop out from that college and study elsewhere later? A. Transferring between institutions in the US is common Q. so can we believe that we should not expect for full aid A. That is correct. If a school can offer full aid that's great! However, students should not expect this to be common. Even if a student offers full aid for attendance, the student should consider things like spending money, travel within the US, and other possible expenses. Q. Does SUNY offer athletic scholarships, in particular women's volleyball and men's soccer? A. There are some SUNY schools that do offer athletic scholarship for those sports, but SUNY Plattsburgh does not. Q. How do you calculate a student's GPA? Do consider all the classes on their transcripts, or only core classes Math, English, Science, Social Science? A. all courses taken for credit and have a letter grade count towards your GPA.

6 Q. can i get financial help to study in USA. I have 3 yrs. of experience in search engine optimization and search engine marketing. I want to have internet marketing studies in Master s program. i have no bank balance. A. In the U.S. about 40% of all international graduate students studying report the primary source of their funding to be their U.S. host institution. This chat is for those looking for undergraduate financial aid. We will be doing another chat in the coming weeks that focuses on graduate financial aid. In the meantime, please begin a search on our EducationUSA site for students at: to generate a preliminary list of schools that offer the intended major you wish to pursue. Q. Another question of mine would be that is it possible to combine a scholarship and a financial aid in order to receive money from more sources? A. If a student receives a financial aid package from my school and wants to combine that with money from other sources that's wonderful! Q. can education in USA give me hand in application for immigration to US procedures when I apply for it?? A.: EducationUSA advisers can offer you guidance on applying for a visa and taking a visa interview. They also offer Pre Departure orientations before you go to the US A.: To Bulelani Jili: Every scholarship that institutions might award can and do have different criteria. The answers will differ depending on the institution, and the competitiveness of the pool of applicants for each award. Q. What is GPA required for transfer from a USA school? A.: if you transfer between one US school to another, you should check with both schools on the specific requirements. Q. Hi Catrillia- Greetings from Cyprus! A.: Hello Gulsen! Good to see you in the chat! Q. What does the $28,000 per year cost cover? A.: The $28,000 estimate covers the cost of tuition, fees, food, housing and other expenses such as health insurance, travel to and from the US and books. Q. I checked your website for scholarship information and it seems the maximum is $5,000 per year. Is this correct? A.: No, the $5,000 amount should be the average amount of aid received. The maximum is around $10,000 per year.

7 A.: To Michael 2: we will be having another session like this on the topic of Visas next week: When: December 14, :30 am 9:30 am (EST-US) Q. are there any students from Bangladesh at SUNY-Plattsburgh? A.: We have some students from Bangladesh! We hope to send an admissions officer there in the fall to recruit students. Q. Do I need to complete SAT & TOEFL both to get scholarships? A.: You will typically need high test scores on both the SAT or ACT and TOEFL or IELTs. Check with the school directly to learn more about test scores and financial aid options Q. greetings from Australia!! just wondering is it possible to waive application fees to university? A.: yes, schools may waive the application fee. You should check with the schools admissions office for more information. Q. We have percentage system, how do you generally calculate it to GPA? A.: We look at the country where the student studied and what system the student was studying in (local high school, IB program, O-levels, etc.) and compare that the US system to figure out what the student's GPA is. Each school evaluates applications differently, however. Q. For Marty only! Hi Marty, Lynn was advertising a volleyball scholarship for women at some point. Not sure if we can say that here. A. (privately): sure, go ahead and type that in the chat and we'll post it Q. Some books (like College Handbook from the College Board) say, for example, average need met was 70%. What does this actually mean? Does this mean that out the total students that applied, 70% were fully funded? Or does this mean that on average, the college was able to meet 70% of the need of students as calculated by the college? A.: it would mean that 70% of the costs that the student needed was met. Typically, however, aid will only cover a small portion of costs in most cases. A full scholarship means over 90% of the costs to study is awarded to the student Q. Hi. Could you advise me what I should write in my application to increase my chances of getting financial aid? Are there some special aspects? A. First of all, your application must be an honest reflection of you as a person. Your essay is particularly important; you can get guidance from your EducationUSA Advising Center, where you will find books and online resources as well as workshops to help you write a strong essay. Q. What is considered to be a good GPA result?

8 A.: 4.0 is the highest GPA you can receive Q. Are the terms and conditions for scholarships and need based financial aid same for the other SUNY institutions like SUNY Stony Brook and SUNY Buffalo? A.: No, each SUNY institution has different requirements for scholarships and need-based aid, if they offer it to international students. Q. can u give us idea about the ones that give full aids A.: Hello Ram, there are dozens of institutions as Rick outline that give full aid, but that list changes from year to year. For the most current information, please visit the EducationUSA Advising Center in your country. A searchable list is available at: Q. When does a student request financial aid? Is there a form separate from the admission application? A. Hello Yaounde! Most U.S. universities that offer need-based financial aid use the International Student Financial Aid Application, which you can find online or from your EducationUSA Advisor. Apply for aid at the same time you apply for admission, NOT after your admission is offered. Thanks for joining this EdUSA session. That is all the time we have for now, but come back today at 4pm (EST) or on Monday, December 13 from 11 am - 12 noon (EST) for another session. For more assistance, contact an EducationUSA advising center near you listed at