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Any international students studying in the US?

TakamineTakamine Alum Member
edited February 2017 in Law School Admissions 154 karma

Hi folks,

If you're an international student and you didn't receive a full ride, how did you fund your studies? Have you come across any good loans options?

I just talked to someone who took a graduate research position in law school and they waived his last two years of tuition. Anyone heard of similar opportunities at any law schools?

I know @"Dillon A. Wright" has offered a list of googled options already, but I was hoping to hear from international students who have already started their JD.

Cheers!

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  • stgl1230stgl1230 Member
    edited February 2017 821 karma

    Hi @Takamine, not an international student, but if you have a family member or a close friend that is a US citizen or permanent resident, they can cosign an American loan for you (not a government loan, but some other kind). Otherwise you are stuck with a commercial loan, which is expensive.

    When I was shopping around law schools I happened to talk to a few international students at different T14s. They were paying for law school through partial merit scholarships and generous parents. I haven't heard of getting waived tuition at any schools in exchange for work, but I'm sure it's out there.

    You might want to dig through TLS international student thread archives and see what others did in past years. There's also a ton of student financing threads on TLS (which i neurotically scrolled through before scholarship money came in) and I am sure there are a few international students who posted there. Oh, and you can always try to negotiate scholarships between different schools! Best of luck!

  • TakamineTakamine Alum Member
    154 karma

    @stgl1230 Thanks so much for the info! I'll check out TLS.

  • stgl1230stgl1230 Member
    edited February 2017 821 karma

    @Takamine No problem!

    Just remember: negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. Hopefully you have offers from peer schools to negotiate. Financial aid offices should be expecting negotiation emails anyway, and they will definitely understand your position as an international student, since you can't get federal loans. I'd say something like "X school is my top choice, but as an international student ineligible for federal loans, I'm really concerned about finances. If I can get my scholarship up to X I would attend/would be likely to attend." The worst they can do is say no. Also ask the schools about housing - some schools have a couple of houses (either school run or run through a nonprofit) that provide free housing to students that meet a certain set of criteria. You have to apply and sometimes the housing is not super optimal but hey, it's free.

    You might also want to look into international financial aid. I was completely unaware of its existence but in another thread @"abby.lu2017" mentioned that it exists. I doubt that international financial aid is anywhere near as generous as financial aid for US students (which is not really very generous in the first place), but it is worth a shot.

  • TakamineTakamine Alum Member
    154 karma

    @stgl1230 I didn't even think of housing -- that's gold! And thanks for the negotiation tips, as soon as the February comes in... :)

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