Major scholarships in the USA

Dream to Study in USA:

Most youngsters dream of studying abroad and many of them have what is called the 'American Dream'. But the challenge with studying in the US is that it is often financially beyond the reach of many Indian students. However, to ensure that finance should not be a constraint for deserving students, there are, thankfully, a lot of scholarships available today and scholarships are an invaluable help to achieve the American dream. Whether a student wishes to pursue graduation or post-graduation degrees in the US, there are several opportunities in the form of scholarships available.

Before one starts to apply for scholarships, an important point to be remembered is that you should never pay to apply for scholarships. If an online search site or application requests credit card information, then there is something quite not right and parting with this information can be risky. Reputed scholarships never charge any money.

Procedure to Apply:

As a first step, visiting a website called www.educationusa.info will provide you with a lot of information. This site is a service provided by the U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International Education. It provides a lot of valuable information and is frequently updated with the latest on scholarships and educational aids. The site also gives details of advising centers in different countries across the world where you can meet face-to-face with experts and gather information.

If you are aware of the colleges that you would prefer to study in, then it is advisable to visits the websites of these colleges. They will definitely provide clear information on available scholarships, the process for applying for the same and the required criteria. Some universities award more than $1 million each year to international students in the form of scholarships. The point to be remembered is that all scholarships which show up on a university page will not be available for students, say, from India. Some of them will be for local students and some may have other restrictions. It is therefore important to scan through the page thoroughly before jumping to conclusions.

One interesting scholarship is the Aga Khan Foundation which is application for 17 countries across four continents. Their International Scholarship Programme offer nearly 50 percent of the cost of the program as scholarship.

For women non-resident scholars, the AAUW International Fellowship is another interesting scholarship. The program in 2011 awarded nearly $1 million to women dedicated to improving life in their home countries.

Eligibility guidelines:

To summarize, you can do one of the following:

1. Visit the www.educationusa.info website
2. Find out about local representatives and advisors and schedule an appointment with them
3. Visit the websites of universities that you are interested in and go through their education cost page which will also provide information on available scholarships.
4. Visit free search engine sites which give information about scholarship programs but do not share credit card or any other financial data with them.