BLD. Thanesh Info.com.

Interested in studying in the US but worried about cost? Well, there are financial aid options out there.

IT may seem strange, but for an international student, studying at a private liberal arts college in the US may actually be more affordable than studying at a public university there.
Liberal arts college – Definition

A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences. Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects.

The “liberal arts college experience” in the US is characterized by three main aspects that demarcate it from undergraduate experiences in other countries:
(1) smaller size than universities, which usually means more individual attention is given to each student;
(2) residential, which means students live and learn away from home, often for the first time, and learn to live well with others. Additionally, the residential experience of living on campus brings a wide variety of cultural, political, and intellectual events to students who might not otherwise seek them out in a non-residential setting; and
(3) a typically two-year exploration of the liberal arts or general knowledge before declaring a major.

*Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_college*


Why Liberal Arts Matter

Barack Obama started out at such a school (Occidental in Los Angeles) before moving to Columbia, where the core curriculum requires undergraduates to be grounded in canonical literature, philosophy, and history. Steve Jobs, who dropped out of Oregon’s Reed College, nevertheless credits a calligraphy class he attended there with providing part of the inspiration for the Macintosh. Employers say all the time that they value clarity of writing and verbal expression, and that they often find liberal-arts graduates expert in both.

*Quoted from http://www.newsweek.com/2010/01/08/in-defense-of-the-liberal-arts.html*


If you need financial aid, most small liberal arts colleges will pay to have Malaysians study there. Financial aid packages usually consist of a combination of partial scholarships or grants, loans and work-study programmes. Some colleges even have funds that are specifically earmarked for international students! How cool is that?

If you are interested in learning more about financial aid opportunities at “Liberal Arts College”, please email Shu Wen, at shuwenteo-at-gmail.com or visit her blog, at http://malaysiascholarshipblog.blogspot.com/. She is a sophomore (second-year student) at Colby-Sawyer College, a private liberal arts college in New Hampshire.