Studying overseas can be very expensive, especially in the USA. In the last 10 years tuition and fees at public four-year institutions increased at an average rate of 3.5% per year beyond inflation, according to a report from the College Board. They also reported that the average annual cost of tuition at a four-year private university was $33,480 in 2016-2017 and $9,650 at a four-year public university. Students are now graduating with an average of more than $30,000 in debt.
But, this doesn’t have to be you. According to debt.org, almost $50 billion in grants and scholarships is awarded to university students every year. There are thousands of scholarships available every year, and sadly, many of them go unclaimed.
We want to offer some scholarship advice for international students. The first piece of advice is to start early. Some scholarships have a deadline of a few months before school starts while others have a deadline of one year before school starts. Also, some scholarship applications are longer and require an essay or long answers to questions that may take you weeks to complete.
Next, we recommend that you ask for help! Start by contacting an advisor or someone in admissions at your university. Sometimes other students who have already gone through the process can be a valuable resource. You can also try contacting one of the scholarship websites below for more scholarship advice for international students.
Each of these resources provides you with great scholarship information, and they may be able to help answer your questions.
Some other advice: You should never pay for a scholarship – scholarships that ask for money are probably scams. Use a professional looking email address or create one if necessary. Make sure to customize answers and essays for each scholarship. Don’t use the exact same answers for every scholarship because they are all looking for something different. You can use the same basic idea for multiple scholarships, but make sure to change some wording so it sounds appropriate.
Our final piece of scholarship advice for international students is to not give up! Keep searching and you may find the perfect scholarship for you.
We encourage you to discover a way to avoid as much school debt as possible because debt can be very constraining. We also want to see you avoid any other unnecessary debt, such as debt from a medical emergency.
Here at Good International Student Insurance, we offer several affordable international student insurance plans. Our plans start as low as about $1/day and provide the coverage you need to avoid large medical bills. As you are probably aware, the cost of medical care in the U.S. is the highest in the world and is only getting more costly every year.
Our recommended plan for most international students is the Patriot Exchange international student plan that can be found here: https://www.goodinternationalstudentinsurance.com/patriot-exchange-international-student-insurance/. We also offer other plans that provide more comprehensive coverage such as the IMG Student Health Advantage plan or the HCC Student Secure Elite plan.
We wish you the best of luck in your scholarship search and hope you don’t forget to find a good international student insurance plan to help keep you safe.
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GoodInternationalStudentInsurance.com works in collaboration with Good Neighbor Insurance. Please call one of our licensed agents at 866-636-9100 or locally at 480-633-9500 if you have any questions. You may also reach us via email at info@gninsurance.com.
Good Neighbor Insurance has been in business for over 20 years! Every one of our internationally trained and licensed insurance agents has a heart to serve you, our guests. It is a joy to know that we can provide you peace of mind with one of our many international student insurance options to safe guard from financial calamity as well as providing you the best overseas medical care during your studies and travels.
We thank you for giving us the privilege of serving you as you fulfill your dreams!
Have amazing and safe travels!
