MR. ALFRED M. BOLL: Good morning and good evening. My name is Alfred Boll, and I represent the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department
of State in Washington DC. The goal of today’s interactive web chat is to provide you with information
about current topics related to American higher education. We want to help you, our viewers from around the world,
come to the United States to study. Today, we are covering how international students can finance their studies in the United States.
Later in the program, we’ll be joined by two experts from educational and nonprofit backgrounds.
They’ll tell you how to prepare to make college more affordable. If you have questions you would like to ask our experts
and to have them answer during our program, simply join the Education USA chat room at EducationUSA.sta
te.gov/interactive. Click on Guest at the bottom of the chat room box to join.
You can also post your questions on Twitter using the #EducationUSA.
I also want to welcome a viewing group joining us from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Thank you so much for participating today.
We will be coming back to you throughout the program for your questions. I know there are other viewing groups gathered
at U.S. embassies, American Spaces, and other places as well. Please send in your pictures to Twitter
using the #EducationUSA, and we will show them during the program.
I would now like to introduce you to Luiz Fernando. He is an international student from Brazil
doing his PhD at Catholic University here in Washington DC. Luis, what is the focus of your PhD?
And why did you choose to study in the United States? MR. LUIZ FERNANDO: Hi, good morning. My focus in PhD is physics and astronomy basically.
And I decided to come to U.S. because I lived here for one year before. And I left many network contacts here.
And I know that U.S. could provide me all the resources I need to keep my research going.
MR. BOLL: Thank you very much. You also studied at St. John’s University in New York
before coming to Washington. What were some of the challenges you faced as an international student when it came to paying for your university studies?
MR. FERNANDO: Yeah, at that time, I received the scholarship from the Brazilian government. But even though I have to pay for my residency,
for my food, and health insurance. So all this came together.
And it was kind of different. It’s really different from Brazilian culture.
But you start to manage your money. And you see everything has its value. So I think it’s worth it.
MR. BOLL: What were some of the costs that you had that you didn’t anticipate?
I mean, can you talk about– so students have to create budgets for themselves, right?
Were you used to that? Is it something you’d ever done at home? Are there tactics you used when you got here?
MR. FERNANDO: Yeah, I used to do it at home, but not for paying my studies. In Brazil, it’s free universities.
So after a while, you start making some strategies
to save money from here and there to keep your studies going well.
There were many things that I didn’t see coming up.
But it was like health issues. So I have to pay here or there.
But if you plan ahead, everything can be OK. MR. BOLL: So can you give students
some specific examples of your budget of how things worked for you?
You mentioned medical care. So do you have medical insurance?
MR. FERNANDO: Yeah, I have medical insurance. And the tips I can give you– don’t spend all your money buying electronics and things
that you don’t need every day. So every time you receive a payment or any money,
just save a part of it. So when an emergency comes like health insurance
or maybe you need to go to your country for some reason, then you have that money on your account,
and you don’t need to have to keep asking for other persons or any other reason.
MR. BOLL: So did you keep money in Brazil and then bring it over when you needed it?
Or did you move your money to the United States and open a bank account here?
How did you handle that the day to day and planning for say a year ahead?
MR. FERNANDO: Yeah, in a first approach, I sold many things I used to have in Brazil.
So I can pay for the flight ticket and the first expenses
I had here. But I started from zero here. And the money I had in Brazil, I almost left everything there,
so I didn’t move. But it’s been a year I’m living here again. So I’m taking the money from Brazil now
and putting my account in the U.S., but for investment and creating a bigger budget for me here.
It’s just how to manage the money. MR. BOLL: Right. What were some resources you used or found helpful
during the process? You told me earlier that EducationUSA was helpful in providing information
when you were a prospective undergraduate when you were thinking about coming to the United States.
MR. FERNANDO: Yeah, for the first time I came to the U.S., EducationUSA helped me with the documentation,
translating all the documents, showed me all good universities that could fit my needs.
And they were really, really helpful. And the second time that I came, EducationUSA
was there for me to help to build my application for universities here. I wanted to come back.
And they helped again translating the documents.
They showed me where I could find scholarships and all this kind of stuff.
MR. BOLL: And in relation to finances,
how did EducationUSA help? Or what did you do specifically to look at and to imagine, OK, how am I going to pay for these studies?
MR. FERNANDO: Yeah, well, I was approved at Catholic University.
And after that, EducationUSA and Catholic University as well
told me to look for some scholarships. And I started looking for teaching assistant scholarships, assistantships,
and things like this. And I earned a teaching assistant scholarship
at Catholic University for eight months. So I was teaching and receiving budget for that.
And this helped me. And this is what you need to do.
You have to keep looking everywhere. EducationUSA helped me to what I need to do,
where I need to look at, and what sources of these scholarships.
And many times even the only awards they give you is give you the money for teaching
or become a research assistant or something like that. MR. BOLL: So it sounds to me like it was an ongoing process
that it’s never really finished. I mean, in the sense you got a teaching assistantship.
But you then also have to look for the next year. And you have to make sure that continues. Is that right?
MR. FERNANDO: Yes, exactly. After these eight months end, I earned a research assistant
scholarship. So now, I’m working at NASA with my advisor. So every year, you have to keep looking and finding
opportunities to keep your studying going. It’s hard to find some scholarship that will fulfill
four years of PhD, five years. Usually, it’s year to year. You need to find money here or there
or find some opportunities, work at the university. So it’s an ongoing process.
It’s not just it ends here, and you are safe for five years. MR. BOLL: And you’re safe, right? So I guess two questions come to mind.
Before you came when you were planning, did you understand that that was going to be the process?
So did you think, OK, I can only accept and come to college or university in the United States based on the fact
that I’m calculating I’ll have this scholarship, I’ll have these private funds, I’ll be able to work part time?
Is that is that how you thought about it, each little part of financing your studies?
MR. FERNANDO: Yeah, when I was accepted and when I earned a scholarship, it was clear for me
that this was the way things would go. So I knew I had to work.
And the scholarship I had, it was just for eight months. But the Catholic University helped me a lot.
And the professors there told me we’re going to find anything for you.
After that, don’t worry. We need to keep looking for now. But don’t worry. And after you become a student, doors start opening for you.
You start meeting other people. You start meeting new institutions.
And so you can usually find other kind of scholarships that is not available at the beginning.
So no. MR. BOLL: No, that makes a lot of sense.
Can you tell us a little bit more? So professors were there to help you. Did the school itself?