# Tuesday Talks 2026 - Can We Actually Afford This? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsc2tQCEHGg Translation: zh-CN [00:00] our community and um those priorities [00:03] can change. But in terms of merit [00:06] scholarships um they as I mentioned vary [00:10] widely between colleges and [00:11] universities. Some could be purely based [00:15] on academics. That said, that doesn't [00:18] mean that merit scholarships are only [00:20] for students with top GPA. And you're [00:23] not going to get a merit scholarship if [00:25] you don't have the best grades and the [00:28] top scores. Many colleges and [00:30] universities have a range of [00:32] scholarships for a range of students and [00:35] GPA. [00:36] Some merit scholarships could be based [00:39] more on talent. It could be for um very [00:42] talented musicians, [00:44] theater students, um performing artists. [00:47] It could be students who are highly [00:49] talented in debate and model UN or maybe [00:54] they recognize um departmental [00:56] scholarships. you know, we're looking [00:57] for outstanding physicists or engineers. [01:02] Um, so they might be geared more towards [01:05] academics in terms of um academic [01:09] interests and departments. Then there's [01:11] the category of athletic scholarships [01:14] and that is kind of a um a different [01:17] category altogether because you may or [01:20] may not know that there are different [01:22] kind of categories of athletic [01:25] competition. division 1, division 2, [01:28] division three and um athletic [01:32] scholarships cannot be given by division [01:35] three colleges and universities. So [01:38] don't assume that you can get an [01:39] athletic scholarship um from [01:41] institutions that offer merit awards. [01:45] Merit scholarships do usually require [01:48] you to be admitted first. Now, this goes [01:51] kind of in contrast to need-based [01:53] financial aid where you have to submit [01:56] the financial aid application before you [01:59] get admitted. um you're strongly [02:01] encouraged to do that. But merit [02:03] scholarships um you've got to apply and [02:06] be admitted first and then the [02:09] admissions committees um may be [02:11] automatically considering you for merit [02:13] awards or there could be uh an [02:17] additional competition and the [02:19] competition could simply be an [02:21] interview, an essay or something um that [02:25] that college is deciding to require. [02:28] Um, it is interesting to note when you [02:31] do get your merit award to read the fine [02:34] print. Is your scholarship guaranteed [02:37] all four years? Do you have to earn a [02:41] certain GPA each year, certain grade [02:43] point average so that it might be [02:45] renewed? Um, some colleges will simply [02:48] award you that scholarship each year, [02:51] all four years. Um, that's what we do at [02:53] Ohio Wesleian. But I have worked at [02:56] institutions that say in order to keep [03:00] this scholarship, you must earn a [03:02] certain GPA in order to keep it or [03:04] maintain it. [03:06] Um, I guess we'll go on to the next [03:08] slide [03:10] if there is one on merit. um you will [03:13] have to do your research on every [03:15] college and university and it's really [03:17] going to help to create a spreadsheet [03:21] and keep um things you know neat and [03:24] tidy about if there are separate [03:26] deadlines if the consideration is [03:29] automatic or if you have to do a [03:32] separate application and there may even [03:34] be a combination of the two at colleges [03:37] and universities at Ohio Wesleian it is [03:39] automatic for our main international [03:42] merit award, but we do have separate [03:45] applications for the art, the [03:48] leadership, the community service. So, [03:50] you'll want to take a deep dive and [03:52] spend your time creating the [03:54] spreadsheets and finding out if there [03:56] are additional deadlines um and things [03:59] required to submit. Like I mentioned, [04:01] maybe an essay, a resume, another form, [04:05] an interview or recommendation. [04:08] Some universities may require [04:10] standardized testing for specific [04:12] scholarships. Um, especially maybe if [04:15] they're STEM related, they may want to [04:17] see that math score. You might want to [04:20] see if an interview is required and is [04:23] that an interview with the scholarship [04:25] committee or maybe it could be satisfied [04:28] with say an initial view interview. Um, [04:31] but you'll want to reach out to your [04:33] admission officer and find out if that [04:35] is required and what that um might how [04:38] you might satisfy that requirement. [04:41] Then, you know, I think that your portal [04:44] is a really helpful place to check and [04:46] many students might just log into the [04:49] portal once, see if anything is missing [04:51] from their application and never check [04:53] that portal again. But you might be [04:56] surprised to know that you may find [05:00] additional scholarships to apply for [05:02] through those admissions portals. So [05:04] definitely keep checking your admission [05:06] portals that each college is going to [05:08] send you login information. Um because [05:12] some scholarships may be by nomination [05:15] or invitation only. Um, don't assume [05:19] that a late application will be [05:22] considered, but then again, don't assume [05:25] that you have to apply early decision to [05:27] lock in the one and only opportunity to [05:30] get a merit award because it really [05:33] varies from institution to institution. [05:37] And then if a recommendation is [05:39] required, make sure your recommener your [05:42] recommener knows what the letter is for [05:44] that it's not just for applying to a [05:47] university but specifically for a merit [05:50] award and if it's for a certain talent [05:53] or academic department. It would be [05:55] great if they could mention some [05:56] specific anecdotes related to that. And [06:00] also if the recommendation is required [06:03] um do you or does the recommener need to [06:06] mention specific skills, specific [06:09] qualities or specific qualifications [06:12] um that kind of match that merit award. [06:17] All right. [06:21] All right. Thank you so much, Kristen. [06:23] Uh so I'm just going to jump in and [06:24] discuss the varying price points between [06:27] universities. I generalize this between [06:29] public versus private universities. Uh [06:32] so I know Rutgers is a public school [06:35] meaning we are part partly funded by the [06:38] state government. So we receive a lot of [06:41] money from the New Jersey state [06:43] government in addition to like cost from [06:45] tuition and our endowments. Um, so [06:48] public schools usually have a lower [06:50] tuition cost because we are funded [06:52] through the state and international [06:55] students will usually pay the outofstate [06:57] rate. So we have instate tuition. If you [07:00] are someone that lives in New Jersey, [07:02] for example, your tuition might be [07:04] around $15,000, but for an outofstate or [07:07] international student, it might be [07:08] around $39,000 as you see in the picture [07:11] below. Um, so because we are partly [07:16] funded by the government, we are not [07:18] able to give a lot of scholarships out [07:20] to students. So at Ruters, we only offer [07:23] one merit-based scholarship, and that [07:26] can only go up to about $16,000 [07:29] per year, one six. Um, and you wouldn't [07:32] be eligible for any state aid or [07:34] needs-based aid like Victor was talking [07:36] about earlier. It would only be that [07:38] merit-based aid. So, if you're looking [07:41] at the sticker price and um this little [07:44] picture that I have on the chart below, [07:46] you'll see the total is about 62,875,000 [07:50] per year. Uh a $16,000 scholarship might [07:54] not be that push that you need to help [07:57] support you go to like a public [07:59] university. [08:01] On the flip side, we have private [08:03] universities, uh which are typically [08:06] funded through tuition, donations, and [08:08] endowments. A lot of the times they have [08:10] very strong uh alumni groups that do [08:13] support their schools a lot after they [08:15] graduate and because they are not like [08:19] partially state funded as public [08:20] universities they're usually a bit more [08:22] expensive. So on the bottom of the [08:26] public private universities uh chart [08:28] here I took a screenshot of the cost of [08:30] attendance of a private university I [08:33] think in the Midwest. I don't remember [08:35] which school it was. Um, but the total [08:38] for tuition, everything that you're [08:40] going to need is about 96 or $97,000. [08:44] So almost $30,000 more expensive than a [08:48] public university in general. However, [08:51] just because it's more expensive doesn't [08:53] mean that you can't get an a bigger um [08:57] scholarship because they have a lot more [08:59] funding or that you couldn't apply for [09:01] needs-based aid and on top of the [09:04] merit-based aid. So, it is possible that [09:06] after stacking aid that you receive from [09:08] a private university, it could be even [09:10] cheaper than going to a public school. [09:13] So, looking at those sticker prices [09:15] shouldn't necessarily [09:17] um knock out schools that you're [09:19] considering to apply to or, you know, [09:21] intimidate you out of applying to them [09:23] because you might receive more aid at a [09:25] private school than a public school. I [09:28] think it's great to ha uh really vary [09:30] your application pool, have a few [09:32] different options because each school is [09:33] going to have an individualized package [09:36] uh for financial aid or scholarships for [09:38] you. [09:40] All right, that's all I have. You can go [09:41] on, Gloria. [09:48] All right. Well, there are some myths [09:51] that we'd like to debunk cuz I think [09:53] there is a lot of misinformation that [09:55] floats around whether uh it just sort of [09:58] comes from people's minds or social [10:02] media or word of mouth. Um so we'd like [10:05] to poke some holes in these myths. And [10:07] the first is the myth of the full ride [10:10] scholarship. I get emails daily from [10:13] students asking to apply for full ride [10:16] scholarships. And I think the reality [10:19] unfortunately is that very few full ride [10:22] scholarships exist. When we admission [10:25] officers think of full ride [10:27] scholarships, I think we're thinking of [10:28] the entire thing. Full tuition, housing, [10:32] meal plan, and meals and housing are [10:35] real costs that the university must [10:37] bear. And so, um, many of us do not have [10:41] the, um, investments and endowments and [10:44] tuition money coming in to be able to [10:47] fully fund students. We'd love to be [10:49] able to do that, but we don't have um, [10:52] the financial resources to be able to do [10:55] so. Another myth is the myth of the [10:58] sports scholarship. And while there are [11:00] some sports scholarships, maybe even [11:03] some full ride sports scholarships that [11:06] could be available to international [11:08] students, the reality is that you have [11:11] to be uh an top top tier athlete either [11:15] with a state, a national or [11:17] international ranking because as I [11:20] mentioned earlier, um institutions that [11:23] can offer sports scholarships are [11:26] usually division one or division two. [11:29] And those athletes compete at such a [11:32] high level um that coaches are starting [11:35] to recruit the students even before [11:38] their last year of high school and [11:39] they're really looking for athletes with [11:42] that top ranking. [11:45] Um and then I think that another myth is [11:48] that assuming that all colleges give [11:51] merit scholarships and it's really [11:55] mostly highly selective universities [11:58] that do not award merit scholarships [12:01] because they get so many applications [12:03] that they don't necessarily need to um [12:07] use a merit award as a way to attract [12:09] more applicants. But highly selective [12:12] institutions may be able to meet full [12:14] financial need. So that could be a [12:17] positive upside. [12:19] And Victor had a couple other myths to [12:22] address. [12:23] >> Yeah, thanks Kristen. Um I'll go quick [12:25] here because I've already alluded to [12:27] these. Um one myth that that we hear is [12:31] uh that I should get through the [12:32] admission process and get admitted [12:34] before I apply for specifically for [12:36] need-based financial aid. And I hope [12:38] that we've drilled that in that that is [12:40] not a good approach. It doesn't um give [12:43] uh the transparency that um [12:45] institutions, financial aid offices need [12:49] uh to make financial aid decisions [12:52] alongside admission decisions. So don't [12:55] wait. Um apply by the stated deadlines [12:58] uh uh for need-based financial aid. [13:01] Lastly, um there is a myth out there [13:03] that there's no financial aid for [13:05] international citizens. I think it's [13:07] worth correcting that yes, there there [13:10] might be more limited financial aid. The [13:13] way that you apply for it might be [13:14] different. Um, but there is financial [13:17] aid available for non- US citizens at [13:20] all of our institutions. Um and uh and [13:23] we definitely want um students to [13:26] approach the application process with an [13:29] understanding that there is financial [13:31] support uh and that you need to kind of [13:33] go through certain application processes [13:35] to make sure that it's um something that [13:37] you can secure. [13:43] >> Wonderful. This is a lot of information. [13:46] So um and it's a lot to digest, I know. [13:50] Um, and so and we have like eight [13:53] minutes left, so I want to make sure if [13:55] anyone else has questions, make sure [13:56] you've asked them. Um, [13:59] uh, let's we Jula talked a little bit [14:03] about kind of the lower sticker price. [14:06] Um, for for you specifically, Julisa, [14:09] like um, is the 16,000 merit based [14:12] scholarship, is that available for [14:13] international students as well? [14:15] >> Yes. So, that's the only um financial [14:18] aid that we'll offer to international [14:20] students is that merit-based [14:21] scholarship, but keep in mind only the [14:23] top 10% of applicants are eligible to [14:26] receive it. So, outside of that, we're [14:28] not really in general giving any um [14:30] scholarships or financial aid to [14:32] international students. [14:34] Got it. And um this is a question for [14:37] everybody. For those like costs, you [14:40] know, like on your website, those cost [14:43] uh tables, do they usually include [14:46] things like insurance, health insurance, [14:49] and things like that? [14:51] >> Yes. For all of you? [14:53] >> Okay. Awesome. [14:56] Um, one thing before we um take [15:00] questions, I just wanted to um share in [15:03] terms of resources. Sorry I was off [15:05] camera. I've been like searching for [15:07] this resource that I cannot find, but I [15:10] know it exists. So any um counselors on [15:14] the call um there's no need to share it [15:17] but um I do want to um give a quick plug [15:21] for international ACAC as a professional [15:26] organization [15:28] um for any counselors on the call. If [15:30] you are not a member, um think about um [15:33] potentially pursuing that. Um and if you [15:36] are, um make sure that you're utilizing [15:39] all the resources available to you. Um [15:42] and for students and parents on the [15:44] call, make sure that you're talking to [15:45] your um counselor, your CBO counselor or [15:49] your um school counselor [15:52] um about some of those um resources and [15:55] asking those questions of your counselor [15:57] as well. Um but there is a kind of [16:00] crowdsourced [16:02] list of um it's a beautiful Excel [16:06] spreadsheet and it has a lot of US [16:08] universities on it and it details kind [16:11] of different aid policies but it also [16:13] details specific scholarships or um [16:17] specific universities that might offer [16:19] instate tuition to international [16:21] students from certain countries those [16:24] kinds of things. So, um, that is a [16:26] resource that's available. If you have [16:28] never seen it, um, and you're a [16:29] counselor, go look for it through the [16:32] international ACAC. Um, I I believe it's [16:35] on some of those listerves and Facebook [16:37] pages. Um, and then also if you're a [16:41] student or counselor or a student or [16:42] parent, it's a good thing to talk to [16:44] your counselors about. Um and then the [16:47] other thing is just to like literally [16:50] search up affordable US universities for [16:53] international students. There are a [16:55] number of um kind of reputable [16:58] college um search platforms that um will [17:02] help recommend basically US universities [17:06] that on face value are less expensive um [17:10] than others. again [17:13] maybe taking away the need for [17:15] scholarship and financial aid um to [17:18] begin with. So lots of different univer [17:20] resources um out there to help um [17:24] navigate what is incredibly complicated [17:27] and incredibly um confounding of a [17:30] process. [17:33] >> Thank you for bringing that up. And [17:34] Kristen also put in the chat that there [17:36] is like a special international a has a [17:39] form um for international students as [17:43] well that some schools are using instead [17:45] of um instead of what are they using it [17:50] >> instead of profile CSS profile [17:52] >> instead of CSS profile that's right [17:55] >> international student financial aid [17:57] application [17:58] >> that's right [17:59] >> yeah um great well and if we find that [18:02] resource we will email it to all the [18:05] registrants so that they have it as [18:06] well. Um, great. Well, we only have a [18:10] little bit of time left, so if you still [18:12] have a burning question, you can ask it. [18:15] I I was going to ask each of you to [18:17] maybe give like a parting word of [18:19] encouragement. Um because I know like [18:22] the people on this call definitely like [18:24] as we saw in those first chats like you [18:27] know it's a stressful it's a stressful [18:30] thing to be thinking about the costs um [18:33] of college. So any kind of last words of [18:36] support. [18:39] >> Um I can just say like I said try to [18:42] have a variety in your application pool. [18:44] Uh the right thing is out there. So, I [18:47] know it's painful, confusing, [18:50] misunderstood, all of the above, but I [18:52] also think like something really [18:54] wonderful can come out of it. So, just [18:56] hang in there. [19:00] I would say don't be afraid to reach out [19:02] to the international admission officers [19:05] um because this process can be so [19:08] confusing or murky. um just reach out [19:12] and ask us questions and um but start by [19:16] finding information on our websites [19:18] first. That should be your your first [19:20] thing that you do. Um and it can take a [19:23] lot of time and a lot of research, but [19:25] hopefully um the payoff in the end is [19:29] worth it with an affordable award or um [19:33] financial aid offer. [19:37] I think a fundamental misconception that [19:39] students have is that um uh well, I'll [19:43] frame it this way. You are a lot more [19:44] interesting than you think you are. Um [19:46] and you have a story to tell and that's [19:49] what the application um process is for [19:51] us. And I hope that you uh kind of are [19:54] affirmed by that and know that you um [19:57] can bring a valuable uh perspective and [20:00] set of experiences to any uh college [20:03] campus in the United States or [20:05] elsewhere. [20:10] And I would just echo some of the well [20:13] all what all of my uh fellow panelists [20:15] have said, but I would just really echo [20:18] the idea um that the best way to um [20:24] ensure that you have options is to [20:26] expand your list, right? Um, the schools [20:29] that often offer the most need-based [20:32] financial aid um, again often can be the [20:35] most selective and that process is even [20:38] heightened for international students [20:39] because it's so competitive. But there [20:42] are so many different ways, different [20:45] avenues to affordability and accessible [20:48] education in the United States. And as [20:50] Kristen mentioned earlier, there are o [20:53] thousands, literally thousands of [20:55] wonderful educational opportunities, [20:58] higher education opportunities in the [21:00] US. Um, and we are excited to welcome [21:04] international students to our [21:06] universities and to the US um in [21:09] general. We international educators are [21:11] really really excited for that. Um, we [21:15] know that it's a currently a tough time [21:17] um, in geopolitics, in the global [21:20] landscape, but we are still really, [21:22] really excited to welcome you to our [21:24] campuses. You make our campuses better [21:27] places. Um, and so it's just really [21:30] important that you expand your list [21:32] beyond maybe um, the five, right? Or or [21:36] the 20, the top 20, whatever that means [21:39] to you. [21:40] um expand your list to expand your [21:43] opportunities. [21:46] >> Wonderful. Well, thank you everyone for [21:49] spending time with us this evening for [21:51] most of you, maybe afternoon or morning. [21:55] Um this was great and we hope to see you [21:59] again soon for another Tuesday talk. We [22:01] don't have one lined up for the next few [22:02] weeks. People are getting ready for [22:04] summer vacation. So enjoy your summer. [22:06] Do things that are meaningful to you. [22:08] Don't be anxious about like you know you [22:12] know adding to your resume. Just do [22:14] things that are meaningful to you. Um [22:17] spend a little bit of time doing [22:18] research like we said. Um but hopefully [22:21] that you are able to rest and be [22:23] rejuvenated for the upcoming school [22:25] year. Thank you so much again. Have a [22:28] great night.