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All About Scholarships  For Higher Education & Studying Abroad
 

Scholarships are a must if you are planning to study abroad. Here is a complete lowdown on scholarships and its necessity

To be able to apply for a student visa, international students are required to show proof of sufficient funds to cover at least the first year of their college education. The burden of securing necessary funding can be challenging, and sometimes frustrating.
 
Family/personal savings may be the only reliable source of funding when anyone plans begins any program of studies abroad. It is at this time that a scholarship helps.
 
Thus scholarships are a direct link between student’s ambition and success. It is an important factor to consider for students applying abroad and requires careful planning.
A ‘Scholarship’ is an academic gift that a student gets from the University or any other institute or trust. They are given by different organisations or sponsors after carefully considering various aspects like academic and other talents, need for scholarship, course opted for and so on.  
 
Scholarships can be given for various purposes ranging right from a waiver in tuition fees at the University to help the students for books, travel or living expenses. Scholarship is the best way to get the education funded because student doesn’t have to repay it.
The policies regarding financial aid vary considerably from university to university. The profile of a college usually indicates the type of financial aid it offers. Students have to submit the institution’s own financial aid forms if they intend to seek financial assistance for studies abroad.
 
Post-graduate students have to indicate their requirement for financial aid at the time of filling in the application form. These forms are provided by the college and administered by the College Scholarship Service of the College Board. A bank statement will also often be required. Some details, usually asked in these forms are:   
  • Total personal annual income
  • Total annual income of your Parents
  • Average annual living expenses
  • Details of personal and parents'/sponsors assets
  • Sources of funding for your education other than from the University :

 

Even if no aid or assistantship is available at the time of admission, most Indian students manage to get some kind of financial aid from the university after one or two semesters. The different types of financial help are:

Tuition Waiver:  This means that the student does not have to pay the tuition fees at the university. However, general fees for the use of university facilities like the library, computers, and sports and health services, usually have to be borne by the student. A tuition waiver is frequently awarded in combination with a scholarship or teaching/ research assistantship.

Scholarship / Fellowship: This is usually an outright grant based on the student’s academic ability and performance. Hence, only a truly outstanding student may be considered for this type of award, before enrolling at the university. A full scholarship would pay for a student’s entire living expenses at that university, whereas a partial scholarship would require additional funds from the student.

Assistantship: Most students who receive assistance usually do so in the form of an assistantship, i.e. a cash stipend sufficient for their living expenses, and/or tuition waiver. This work normally consists of teaching and research activities. These are usually for graduate courses. Teaching assistantships are more likely to be in universities, which have large undergraduate classes whereas research assistantships tend to be more common in those fields and universities in which considerable research is in progress.
Students have a greater chance of getting financial aid if they:
  • Show evidence of a high level of academic achievement
  • Achieve high standardised examination scores (GRE/ GMAT/ TOEFL/IELTS )
  • Demonstrate financial need but have private funding to cover some of the cost. (Financial need is not crucial for some awards)
  • Enroll in a field or have teaching experience in a subject offered at the undergraduate level (to increase opportunities for a teaching assistantship)
  • Specialise in a field or have a research interest which parallels that of the department and faculty or private funding source (which increases opportunities for research assistantships and grants)
  • Have outstanding letter(s) of recommendation and an impressive statement of purpose
  • Send a samples of professional writing, published or otherwise if available 

University funding is easier to get in the United States than in U.K., Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Most students who go to Australia and U.K. are self-funded students. Assistance of funds is more likely in graduate studies and less in undergraduate courses. Also funds are more likely to be available in fields such as Engineering, Physical Sciences and Biological sciences, rather than in courses like Humanities, Social Sciences and Management.

Students should always remember that if they want to pursue their education abroad then scholarships must not be the basis on which they should plan their education. It is very essential to have an adequate personal financial backing.

 More on Scholarships & Financial assistance For Higher Education    Click Here

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