Studying in the US: Four Kinds of Financial Aid (1/2)

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we return to a subject we have discussed before: financial aid. This time we are going to talk about financial aid in the form of assistantships, grants, scholarships and fellowships.

An assistantship at a university is a job that is paid with money or free classes. These positions usually go to graduate students to assist a professor for about twenty hours a week. The assistants may teach, grade papers and tests, or do research in a laboratory.

A grant is a gift of money. Unlike a loan, a grant does not have to be repaid. Grants can come from public or private organizations. Schools often receive donations for this purpose. Some grants are for general purposes of paying for school, while others are offered in a subject area.

Scholarships and fellowships do not have to be repaid either. A scholarship is financial aid to undergraduates; a fellowship is for graduate students.