If you face the challenge of funding your education as an international student, need based scholarships would particularly fund your cost of living and tuition fees to ease the burden.
Unlike merit based awards which are granted for academic and extracurricular achievements, this particular scholarship will provide you with financial support if you’re from a low-income background, enabling you to pursue higher education opportunities you may find inaccessible without funds.
Most importantly, several institutions, including universities and nonprofit organizations, offer these scholarships to help talented students from diverse backgrounds access education in different countries.
With the benefit of the scholarship supporting and promoting cultural exchange and diversity within educational institutions. You must know that it is very possible to access this essential funding if you know the right way to apply for it.
In this article, we will explain the various types of this scholarship available for international students, to guide you on how to maximize your chances of securing the opportunity.
Types of need based scholarships for international students
The Gates scholarship
The Gates scholarship is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The scholarship awards “a last-dollar scholarship” to 300 eligible students each year. It covers the cost of schooling after federal grants are awarded, ensuring that students of all incomes can afford their college fees. However, to qualify for this scholarship, you must be eligible for a Pell Grant.
Eligibility
To qualify for this scholarship, you must:
- Be a high school senior
- Be from at least one of the following ethnicities:
- Asian and Pacific Islander
- African American
- American Indian/Alaska Native
- Hispanic American
- You must be eligible for the Pell grant
- A US citizen, either national or permanent resident
- Have a good academic standing with a minimum cumulative weighted GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or equivalent.
- Be willing to enroll full-time in a four-year degree program at a US-accredited, private, or public college or university.
- Outstanding academic record in high school
- Must have demonstrated extracurricular activities, like participating in community service or other activities
- Exceptional personal skills like motivation, perseverance, or emotional maturity.
The Young Scholars program
The Young Scholars program is funded by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. The Scholarships are awarded to high-performing seventh-grade students who demonstrate financial need to pay for high school tuition, summer programs, and extracurricular activities. The program supports 8th grade through senior year of high school.
In addition, funding for services does not begin until the summer before 9th grade. So successful Cooke young scholars use the scholarship to nurture academic skills and explore passions and interests to stretch outside of their comfort zones.
For further inquiries on the young scholar’s program, visit the website.
Also Read: Ongoing 2025 Taiwan scholarships for international students
The Greenhouse Scholars program
The Greenhouse Scholar’s program, awards graduating school seniors with a need based scholarships for attending a four-year college. It’s an organization, whose mission is to transform underserved communities all around the world through education by empowering promising young students with the resources they need to fulfill their dreams in their various communities and lives.
To access this award as a low-income student, you must demonstrate a financial need and must also have an annual household income that is greater than $70,000. Up to 34 applicants are awarded financial aid of $5, 000 each year.
The scholars would also have automatic enrollment in a group of programs that promote growth and development in students.
Tulane University
Tulane University offers a variety of generous needs and merit based scholarship opportunities for international students. The scholarship offers up to $30,000 in need based financial aid to international students who qualify and have already been awarded that amount or more in merit scholarships.
If you find this scholarship interesting and want to apply, you must have to submit all the necessary documents together with a CSS profile by 15th February.
Commonwealth scholarships
The Commonwealth scholarships are for students from across the Commonwealth who cannot afford to study in the UK. The scheme helps to support future innovators and leaders by funding their studies in a range of different study formats.
To apply for this scholarship, you must be a citizen or a permanent resident of a commonwealth country and would still be eligible as a refugee or a British-protected person.
However, the eligibility criteria for each type of scholarship offered by the Commonwealth vary. You can find available information on the CSC site here.
Ohio Wesleyan University
The need based scholarships for international students at Ohio Wesleyan University are highly competitive and limited and sometimes not guaranteed.
Nevertheless, any international student interested in applying for a need based aid at Ohio Wesleyan must complete the online financial form that is accessible through their application portal. The checklist is required to complete the application and then allow for decision review.
For more specific questions on this scholarship, please contact the Office of International Admission at [email protected]