Foreign Fulbright Student Program
The Fulbright Program are full scholarships in USA for international students who wants to pursue a Master’s or PhD degree.  The scholarships can also be awarded for non-degree postgraduate studies.  The grant covers tuition fee, textbooks, airfare, a living stipend, and health insurance.

Humphrey Fellowship Program
The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program provides a year of professional enrichment in the United States for experienced professionals from designated countries throughout the world. Fellows are selected based on their potential for leadership and their commitment to public service in either the public or private sector.  The fellowships are full grants covering all related expenses.

American University
American University (AU) awards a limited number of generous partial merit scholarships to academically-qualified incoming international first-year undergraduate students.  The University also offers the AU Emerging Global Leader Scholarship Program which awards scholarships to high-achieving international students who wish to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in the US and who are dedicated to positive civic and social change. It is intended for students who will be to returning home to improve under-resourced, underserved communities in his/her home country.

Amherst College
Amherst College currently runs a need-based financial aid program that provides assistance to financially needy international students.  Once you have been admitted, your financial need is determined. A financial aid award that is equal to your need will then be offered.  The award is sometimes called an “aid package” because it may include both self-help (employment) and gift aid (scholarships and grants).

Arkansas University
International students are eligible to apply about 10 scholarships offered at the University including the Chancellor’s Scholarship and the General University Scholarships.

Colby-Sawyer College
International Students are eligible for need-based and merit-based financial aid offered by Colby-Sawyer College. The merit-based scholarships are worth $50,000-75,000 over four years of undergraduate study.

Columbia College
Columbia College offers about 20 scholarships and awards to outstanding international students. The awards are one time cash grants and 25%- 100% tuition reduction.

Cornell University
Cornell has a limited amount of funding available for international undergraduates, only 30-40 scholarships are awarded to students in each entering class. The scholarships are either partial or full, based on the selected student’s need.

Darthmouth College
Darthmouth College offers need-based financial aid to  all students, including international and transfer applicants . It does not award academic, athletic or merit scholarships. The College  is committed to meeting 100% of every student’s demonstrated need during their four years of undergraduate study.

Illinois Wesleyan University
Merit-based scholarships are offered to qualified international applicants with outstanding academic achievement and test scores on the required entrance exams. These awards range from $3,000 to $18,000 per year and are renewable for up to four years.  In addition, two full-tuition President’s International Student Scholarships may be awarded each year to two highly qualified international students.

Michigan University
Michigan University provides a number of scholarship and grants to deserving international students at the undergraduate and postgraduate level.

New York University Wagner
All international postgraduate student applicants at NYU Wagner are automatically considered for all merit-based scholarships, as the University gives equal consideration to scholarship applicants from within the United States and abroad. Also see NYU Wagner Public Service Fellowships for African Women.

Oregon University
At the University of Oregon you’ll find several sources of financial aid for international students, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Each year, the University of Oregon awards more than one million dollars in financial aid and scholarships to international students. Their top scholarship programs are merit-based and covers partial to full tuition fees.

Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University offers limited scholarships for international students and is awarded on the basis of both exceptional qualifications and demonstrated need. In addition to the 11 Asian students who are awarded yearly under the Freeman Asian Scholars Program, they provide financial assistance to approximately 15 international students from a pool of over 400 such applicants.

York University
The University of York offers competitive scholarships to overseas Masters and PhD students.  The awards cover partial to full tuition fees.

AAUW International Fellowships
AAUW (formerly known as the American Association of University Women) awards international fellowships  for full-time study or research in the United States to women who are not US citizens or permanent residents. The scholarship are worth $18,000 for Masters, 20,000 for PhD and $30,000 for Postdoctoral students.

Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship Programme
The Aga Khan Foundation provides a limited number of scholarships each year for postgraduate studies to outstanding students from selected developing countries who have no other means of financing their studies.  The studies can be undertaken anywhere in the world including the US. Scholarships are awarded on a 50% grant : 50% loan basis through a competitive application process once a year.

One important thing you should know about scholarships is that they are not given out just to anyone  who asks, requests, or begs for it.  They are not given just because you are poor and disadvantaged.  They are not given just because you are from a developing country or just because you belong to a minority group.  The truth is scholarships are not given out, they are earned. You earn it by demonstrating your potential and establishing your qualifications.

Although it is true that your disadvantaged situation initially qualifies you for a scholarship (that’s why there are minority scholarships, scholarships based on financial need, developing country scholarships), you will still have to satisfy other qualifications set by the scholarship provider.

Let’s look at a general overview of typical scholarship qualifications required by scholarship providers.

Minimum Scholarship Qualifications

- You must be from a country which the scholarship provider specifies

- You must be of a certain age as set by the scholarship provider. Note that this is not always the case, there are many scholarships where there is no age requirement.

- You must hold a High School Diploma when applying for a Bachelors; a Bachelor’s Degree when applying for Master’s; and a Master’s Degree when applying for PhD

- You must meet the  academic requirements of the programme you are applying to. In most cases, you have to be accepted in the progamme your are applying to before you are considered for a scholarship.

- You must have good knowledge of English language with TOEFL or IELTS scores as proof. In some cases, proof of English as medium of instruction in your university degree would suffice.

Additional Qualifications of Specific Types of Scholarships

- Entrance Scholarships: you have to meet the high school academic average set by the scholarship provider (usually 90% or above)

- Excellence Scholarships: you have to meet the GPA required by the scholarship provider (usually 3.0 or above on a 4.0 rating system)

- Leadership Scholarships: you must demonstrate leadership potential and possess leadership skills and/or experience

- Competition Scholarships: you must win the competition (i.e. essay competition)

- Development Scholarships: you must go back to your home country after your studies

- Youth Scholarships:  you have to be young, atleast below 25

Even if you meet the minimum qualifications of the scholarship, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get a scholarship. Yes, good qualification improve your chances but still, there will be hundreds or thousands of you with the same qualifications applying for the same scholarship. Thus, scholarship providers set up scholarship criteria to filter out the best students who will get the scholarship. Here are some of the scholarship criteria used by scholarship provider:

•  The student’s academic excellence and potential in his/her proposed field of study -  applicants must be able to demonstrate a connection between their subject of study and their longer-term career objectives.

•  The student’s academic performance – as evidenced by grades, test scores, publications, letters of recommendation from his/her previous education.

•  The student’s motivation letter (or in some cases, a motivation essay)

•  The quality of the scholarship application submitted (completeness, accuracy, consistency).

•  In development scholarships in particular, students are assessed based on their potential to contribute to the development of their home country.

•  In the case of research students, students are assessed based on the merits and relevance of their proposed research study.

Knowing these criteria, you can find ways to gain advantage over your competitors.  For example, if you don’t have very good academic grades, the personal motivation letter is your chance to show how you deserve to get the scholarship.   In another example, you can do a little extra research about the current areas of focus of the scholarship provider because sometimes,  students are chosen based on their chosen field of study or research – if it aligns with the scholarship provider’s core mission/themes.  It is also useful to know the profiles of previous scholarship recipients; it will give you an idea of the kind of student that the scholarship providers are looking for.

Here’s a simple way to test your chances in getting a scholarship. Answer truthfully: have you met at least the minimum scholarship qualifications outlined above? If yes, then you have a good chance in getting a scholarship. If no, then you would have tougher chances in getting a scholarship; either you find a way to meet the qualifications set by the scholarship provider or find other scholarships that doesn’t require strict qualifications.

Hopefully, this post helped you to gain new perspective about applying for a scholarship and what it requires from you.