If you are looking ahead to study MS in the USA, you might be looking for various scholarships so that you can manage your expenses comfortably. Here we are discussing 5 different kinds of scholarships available in the USA for MS students. 

Full Scholarships (Only for US Citizens)

Full scholarships are the kind of scholarships available in the USA for US citizens. So, you can only think about applying for the full scholarships if you have US citizenship. 

Full scholarships are through the National Science Foundation and cover almost all the expenses of students. Moreover, these scholarships are awarded to students with excellent academic records. The bottom line is, you have to be a US citizen as well as good academics to have a chance of getting these types of scholarships. 

Research/Teaching Assistantships

What is the research/teaching assistantship?

• Research assistantship: Professors in the US universities hire potential students for research projects, and they give allowances from their research funds. 

• Teaching Assistantship: A professor can hire you as a teaching assistant, especially if he is teaching an undergraduate course. He may need your assistance for grading papers or assignments, or he may ask you to help students in their exercises. 

In the US, it is very common to have teaching assistants as professors are usually very busy. In both types of assistantships, you will get a full fee waiver for that semester or year. You may also get an allowance for your food and accommodation. 

It’s like the university is hiring you for pay, that way your tuition fee will be waived off. If you are paying all the government taxes, you also get a unique social security number which can be immensely helpful if you want to get settled in the USA. 

In case if you don’t know:

Research assistantships are better than teaching assistantships as there is no guaranty that the teacher will teach the course again in the next semester. But in the case of research assistantships, the professor will hire you for the whole project. It is kind of a sure thing that you will get funded for the semester you have applied for as well as the coming semester. 

Research/Teaching Assistantships After 1st/2nd Semester

You may not get an assistantship in the first semester unless you have a research background.

In most of the US universities, assistantships are usually given after the first semester is over. This way, the professor can get a better idea about your performance, overall abilities, and how much research-oriented you are. 

For your information: Assistantships are not for all courses. US universities do not offer assistantships at all for specific courses like construction management, MEM and MBA, etc as they’re not research-oriented

Employer Funds

Funding by an employer might not be very common in India, but it is prevalent in countries like the US, Canada, Thailand, etc.  In these countries, the government funds the best of students so that they can continue their studies from the top international universities. 

How can you get funding from the country or company?

They will ask you to work for them for a certain period so that they can get productivity in return to the money they have invested in your studies.  Usually, the work offered by the company or the government is related to the specific specialties of the students. It is best to consult with your employer if they offer such scholarships.

Partial Fee Waiver in Tuition Fee

You might have heard about the scholarships in which a fixed percentage of the tuition fee is waived off. 

Some universities in the USA offer partial scholarships instead of full. The concerned university will give you a letter saying that 10%, 20%, in some cases, even 50% of the fee is waived off. 

Partial scholarships are usually awarded to students with excellent academic records. Sometimes, such scholarships can be very handy as the average tuition fee at US universities ranges from INR 30 lacs to INR 60 lacs. Suppose if your tuition fee is INR 50 lacs and you get a 20% waiver. You have to pay INR 40 Lacs! That can be immensely helpful, and you can easily bear expenses of food and accommodation. 

Important Advice

Don’t choose a university only on the base of scholarships. Always try to get admission in one of the top universities. A good university matters a lot if you are going to the US for studies. Sometimes universities offer scholarships only to attract students. And they don’t have the quality of education. What would you do then? 

You have to think about everything in the long term. Faculties should be good. The teaching environment must be friendly and disciplined at the same time. In short, you must have to look for the best universities instead of the universities offering nothing more than the scholarships.