BMO gives out 15k the first year, 10k each successive year. You do have to reapply, but I'm sure if you have an older co-signer it wouldn't be a problem.

hey abstraktura and awk9...how is your progress coming along?

I am working on getting my funding sorted...hopefully it will be done this week....I am a bit nervous about it though. Time is running out.

Did you guys manage to get it sorted from your school? were they helpful?...my school is not very helpful. Just curious to know what advice they gave out.

15K is not even half enough to fund M.Arch I at GSAPP .... I just hated the idea of going to U of T or UBC for my M.Arch I....sigh

ya i am at U of T and i don't like it there ...it really is not my type of school...i got an entrance scholarship to jump ship to SCI-arc...i visited and love it there........

I am trying to get 25k from the bank..as an exception-really thats my only hope at the moment.....and time is running out....just wondering if anybody else from an american school found an alternative to a canadian bank.....i am also wondering how other schools are helping international students out?

Sorry for the delay in response everyone, I'm currently waiting on administrators from my school to get back to me about a school funded emergency loan. At this point I am getting really desperate hopefully it all works out. I have wanted to do this without involving my parents however I might need them to take out a home equity line of credit.

For those of you that are desperate like I am and whose parents are willing to help them out, take a look at this:
http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/mortgages/home_equity.jsp

Again, I'll let you guys know my status as soon as they let me know what my standing is.

It's really interesting to hear that someone, who has phd from world's top university and run his own business, says huge amount of loan for B.Arch and M.Arch is not worth, and a college kid says that is really worth...


"the ivy name is the ivy name- and i agree its stupid- but i have seen it work. they get published more by their friends- and if one does an exhibit they invite their other friends...blah blah.....there was one prof at our school who got tenured in 3 months after graduating from harvard....."

For me, it sounds what a "business man" usually say.
Maybe, he must go to MBA.

...maybe SHE/HE must go to do an MBA....and maybe in the meantime you could look into grammar lessons

again this post is how to secure the funds to study in the U.S....not about which school to choose and why.

Sorry that I am not an american.

You may have lived in a really Small World, so you think everyone is an american even if he/she doesn't use english in a perfect way.

If so, I am sorry for not being an american for You.

How thankful is it that most of american around me are considerate and open-minded for a foreigner unlike you...

syp
I am sorry you were offended- but if you would have read the post properly you would have realized that actually I am Canadian. Also please bear in mind that their are countries other then the U.S. where English is the official language.


Please Please Please only respond to the post if you have advice for Canadians obtaining funds to study in the U.S.

I am sorry that I was a little cynical, too.

archinet, I'm curious, why didn't you like U of t architecture? the m.arch or b.arch?

As simple as it is....as a Canadian, I consider throwing tons of cash for a non-ivy-league education in the U.S a big waste of intellectual and economic resources.

I had to deal with some issues in getting that loan I mentioned above (i.e the loan from last year said my SIN number was my SSN number and so I had to drive to the states to figure it all out and thus have had some delays in getting my loan) I am hoping to find out today if I got the loan. I'm on vacation in europe in the meantime and was hoping to have it all figured out by the time I had left, but hopefully, hopefully, hopefully today I will hear some good news. Good luck to everyone! If you're trying this hard, you know you really want it!

cfso1952 is a waste of bandwidth... yeah, i said it.

My update is that I finally got the loan. I can finally breathe easy, with only 3 weeks before school begins. Good luck everyone! I hope it works out well for you!

hey abstraktura

just out of curiosity- was this loan issued with or without a
co-signer?

without ...I couldn't do it any other way!

thats definitely good to hear!

I know not everyone reads the archinect discussion forums but i thought that citibank cancelling that global citiassist program would affect more ppl. Judging from the responses on this thread citibank only screwed a handful of us...which is schiza cuz i was gonna suggest starting a petition or some nasty complaint email/letter campaign to let them know they can't get away with this crap. I think we need more in numbers to get their attention though. :(

hey everyone

Well I am definitely screwed. Although I have a scholarship and only need to get 25k from the bank (i can easily get 6k from OSAP). SCI-arc still inisists that I get 53k immediately to do the I-20. Which I simply cannot get from the bank. Hell I am even lucky enough I have a co-signer who is willing to co-sign up to 25k

7.5k for a tuition deposit

25k for tuition
20k for living

Although I don't see how this 7.5k deposit is being deducted from tuition?

Therefore I actually can't go. I guess i might have to finish at U of T and then think about a post grad somewhere else.

This is soooo stupid...I am with you ibizaClubbin!

We should start a list of schools that do help obtaining a loan and other schools that don't

So far...

Columbia - do
SCI-ARC - don't

The Auch Company Scholarship in Oakland, Michigan offer $500 USD award amount for Construction Management majors in order to pay for their continued education at Oakland Community College.

Find out the eligilibility requirements for international students 

http://get-scholarship.com/oakland-community-college-auch-company-scholarship-for-construction-management-majors/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Get-scholarshipcom/263608830408880

Looks like there's lots of info up here already, and this may have already been said, but several American schools will offer favorable loans to make up the difference after any non-repayable funds have been awarded. In my own search--several years ago, so this info could be out of date--I only ended up applying to schools that had need-blind admissions and that would help ensure that you'd have an adequate funding package to attend, between repayable and non-repayable funds. At that time, Princeton, GSD, and Yale were pretty good with funding, as was Cornell (though not quite as good). I didn't apply to GSAPP because it didn't look like I'd be able to afford it even if I got in. Rice also has generous funding, I've heard, so this is not only limited to the Ivies in the northeast. Regardless, any school worth its salt should be able to give you a clear and honest answer about how they expect students with different backgrounds to make ends meet and what resources they provide. They may even be able to point you towards particular scholarships or loans that their own students have been able to receive in the past.

Canadian student loans will contribute a chunk--not nearly enough, as others have commented, but don't disregard it, as it's guaranteed and interest-free until you graduate--and then there are scholarships and bursaries that allow you to attend an out-of-country institution. There aren't as many as these, but if you're from Alberta you can try the Lougheed scholarships, for example. There are also scholarships specifically for people crossing borders: the Fulbright is a big one; then American universities often have their own funds for international students or students from specific countries; and there are American scholarships that are nationality-blind, issued by private institutions or companies, etc. Your undergrad institution or home city or province might even have traveling fellowships for people going abroad to study; I think McGill had something like this when I was there. Yes, you have to do a lot of digging to find out what you might be eligible for, and yes, it's an enormous slog to fill out the applications. But attending university in a foreign country is an expensive matter, and if you're determined to do it, this is how I think you can make it more affordable.

Hopefully you can also work as a TA or RA at  your school while you're a student; ask prospective schools about this. This won't be nearly enough to cover tuition, but might cover your meals or your model-making habits, and will be a relevant way to build experience. And you can work during the summer in places that pay a decent wage and where you can keep some savings after paying rent.

You could also think about what degree you want to do in a less expensive way, and what you want to spend your money on. At the GSD, for example, the shorter M.Arch.II and MDesS programs have more international students than the longer M.Arch.I program. Part of this is surely because people tend to seek out professional degrees in the country where they're more likely to want to practice in the future, but I suspect that it doesn't hurt that a program that is half (or less) as long will also be half as expensive, all else being equal.

I should add two things:

First, the funding situation may not be clear in terms of actual numbers before you apply-- what I meant is that the schools should be able to indicate whether they aim to make sure all admitted students can find reasonable ways of funding their degree, or to what extent you'll be on your own. They should also be able to give you a (rough) sense of what kind of merit-based and need-based funding they award, and what the process is for this. This won't help those who have already farther down the admissions process, but for anyone who is applying this fall, I'd recommend trying to suss this out in advance, and then apply to a range of schools (some where you're very likely to be an attractive candidate, some more of a reach) where it seems you'd likely be able to afford things. I'd advise against applying to schools that are quite up front about not guaranteeing any minimum levels of funding or need-based aid, if that's what you're going to need...or at least, apply to only one or two schools like this, then fill out the rest of your applications at places that seem more likely. Of course, apply to several schools so that you have some options (and maybe even some ability to negotiate).

Second, many or most of the university-level, government-level, and other third-party sources of funding need to be sought out and applied for around the same time that you apply for schools, so don't wait until you've been accepted to think about these.

As a Canadian, when I was applying to American schools for the first time, all of this was quite a maze, as the Canadian system is just so much smaller and simpler. Some of these things may seem obvious to those of you who know how this works, but to me, these were all surprises.

I'm exhausted just thinking about all of this! Good luck.

Didn't realize this was such a massively old thread. Anyways, hope this can be useful for some international student, somewhere...

Lian, I'm so glad you didn't notice how old this thread was... Your response was a gold mine of information. Thank you so much!