Scholarships & Assistantships

Most Universities offer financial assistance to international students only on Merit and sometimes on Need. Its the Academic excellence and capabilities which the candidate posses, matter for securing Scholarships/Assistantships.

The amount of assistance varies based on the level of study, University, Research Activities in the department and the type of assistance. Usually, financial assistance is offered to students at the Graduate Studies level rather than Undergraduate Studies.

Students pursuing Engineering, Biological Science and Physical Sciences are more likely to be funded rather than those students pursuing Management, Social Sciences.

Types of Assistance:

Tuition Waiver
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 conjunction with a scholarship or teaching/research assistantship. Tuition Waiver could be a partial fee waiver or a full fee waiver.


Scholarship / Fellowship
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  receive assistance in the form of an assistantship. This is a cash stipend given to the student for his services and this stipend would usually be sufficient for their living expenses, and/or tuition waiver. Under this assistance, the students have to work for a maximum of 20 hours per week. This work normally consists of teaching and research activities. These are usually for graduate courses. Under Teaching Assistantship, a student is expected to help the faculty in his classes by evaluating the Answer Scripts and instructing during Labs. Under Research Assistantship, a student is expected to work on a research project under his guide. A good TOEFL & TSE (Test of Spoken English) Score is the key to Teaching Assistantship and research abilities must be proved before a research assistantship is granted. Hence, many universities grant this only after the first semester.