Aussiewritings
Deadline: May 15, 2018
If you think you’ve got skills when it comes to writing then you won’t want to miss the Aussiewritings Writing Contest where you’ll have the chance to win up to $1,000.
AussieWritings.com is pleased to announce its first essay contest among participants from all around the globe. To encourage passionate writers, there will be money prizes:
First prize – $1,000
Second prize – $800
Third prize – $600
There is also a special prize of $200 for the most compelling and thoughtful essay. Winning essays will be published on AussieWritings.com and promoted throughout its social media.
All participants who are passionate about writing regardless their location, age or nationality are welcome to participate.
You need to write an essay, answering to any of these questions:
When writing your essay, consider the following:
Send your essays in through email before May 15th, 2018. Winners will be announced on May 31st, 2018 on AussieWritings.com. You can find further details here.
The 2017 InternationalStudent.com Travel Video Contest
Deadline: October 13th
Like in years past, InternationalStudent.com is hosting its Travel Video Contest, which means that it’s your chance to win $4,000! The contest is now in its 12th year and if you are an international student or traveler, InternationalStudent.com is giving you the opportunity to showcase your creativity and explain why you want study abroad or take a specific trip during your international studies.
If you’re currently studying abroad, you can tell us about any trip you would like to take. If you aren’t abroad yet, you simply need to tell us why you want to study abroad.
How to enter
If you are interested in entering in the contest, there are a few things you will want to know:
The deadline to submit your application for the twelfth annual travel video contest is 11:59 PM, EST on Friday, 13 October 2017. To get started, go to InternationalStudent.com and you also may want to have a look at:
InternationalStudent.com Travel Video Contest
Deadline: October 22nd
The InternationalStudent.com Travel Video Contest is back and ready for your entry! If you plan on becoming an international student or if you are currently, make sure you get the details you need on how to enter this contest. One lucky, grand prize winner will receive $4,000 and their very own blog on InternationalStudent.com. The InternationalStudent.com judges will also name a second place, third place and viewers’ choice winner. The grand prize winner will be announced on the last day of International Education Week: November 20th.
How to Enter:
If you would like to enter you need to be at least 18 years old and either plan on studying outside your home country or are currently. Create a 5 minute that shares why you would like to become an international student or why you would like to take a specific trip during your time as an international student. Read the full list of rules and regulations before you enter.
Your video must be original and creative, and have been created specifically for the InternationalStudent.com Travel Video Contest.
Before you start filming your video read these tips & tricks, view past winners and see who will be judging your video.
Get more information on how to enter the 10th Annual Travel Video Contest.
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On November 15, the Institute of International Education released its annual Open Doors Report on international students in the US, showing the total number of international students in the US at 690,923, an all-time high and 3% more than last year. However the most dramatic figure was the 30% growth in the number of Chinese students in the US, to a total of almost 128,000, leapfrogging India to claim the top spot. China has recently been second to India in the number of international students studying in the US, but no longer, as the number of Indian students grew modestly to about 105,000.
According to the report, the economy held back overall growth to a lower rate than in recent years, notwithstanding the growth in Chinese students as well as a surge in students from Saudi Arabia. However, the number of students declined from about half of the top 25 sending countries.
Here’s the top 10 sending countries with number of students this year and percent growth from last year:
1 China 127,628 29.9%
2 India 104,897 1.6%
3 South Korea 72,153 -3.9%
4 Canada 28,145 -5.2%
5 Taiwan 26,685 -4.9%
6 Japan 24,842 -15.1%
7 Saudi Arabia 15,810 24.9%
8 Mexico 13,450 -9.4%
9 Vietnam 13,112 2.3%
10 Turkey 12,397 2.0%
The University of Southern California again hosted the most international students, with 7,987 international students on campus. Next in line are the University of Illinois – Urbana – Champaign (7,287), New York University (7,276), Purdue University (6,903) and Columbia University (6,833).
Read the press release from the Institute of International Education for more information, and you can review the data tables for complete details.
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International Students in the USA
The number of international students studying at colleges and universities in the USA (2008/2009 schoolyear) increased by 8% to 671,616, and the number of US students abroad (2007/2008 school year) increased by 8.5% to 262,416. Both the inbound and outbound totals, released by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in its annual Open Doors Report on November 16, 2009, are all-time highs. The report stresses that any impact from the global economic downturn may not be reflected in these numbers, as the commitment to study overseas was made prior to last fall for most of these students.
For international students in the USA, Canada overtook Japan for fourth place but otherwise the top five sending countries remain the same:
India 103,260 +9.2%
China 98,235 +21.1%
South Korea 75,065 +8.6%
Canada 29,697 +2.2%
Japan 29,264 -13.9%
India and China continue their dramatic growth, as enrollment by Chinese students in the US increased 21.1%, while Indian student enrollment grew by 9.2%.
The University of Southern California remained the top single destination for international students, with 7,482 international students.
For more information and data regarding international student enrollment in the USA, see the Open Doors press release and the international student data tables.
US Students Abroad
Although Western European destinations continue to be most popular for US students abroad, with England, Italy, Spain and France taking the top four spots, China, India and several other countries continue to grow in popularity. Shorter-term programs are very popular, and there are 23 US colleges that send 80% or more of their students abroad. IIE releases tons of information and statistics, so feel free to follow the links below to learn all you want about the enrollment of US students abroad.
For more information and data regarding US students abroad, see the Open Doors Press Release and the study abroad data tables.
Click here to subscribe to our blog and get an update when the next post comes out.
InternationalStudent.com is excited to announce the launch of the fourth annual InternationalStudent.com Travel Video Contest! Prizes are bigger than ever – the Grand Prize is $3,500 and there will be other great prizes, like an iPod Touch and a video camera. Not to mention worldwide fame and fortune in the international education community with your very own blog on InternationalStudent.com.
The contest is pretty simple. Simply make a video and submit it. Your video can be no longer than 5 minutes long; there is no minimum length. For those already studying outside of their home country, the video can describe any trip you’d like to take. For those who are not currently studying abroad, but who would like to, your video must describe your proposed study abroad. Click here for more information on how to enter.
Entries will be judged by the judges panel on creativity, video production and editing quality, originality and interest level in the proposed trip or study abroad, and pure subjectivity. on our part.
For more information and to enter, go to:
http://www.InternationalStudent.com/contest/
Over the past few years, there have been two main types of private loans, including those private loans available to international students. The first are called “school certified” (or school channel, in lender terms) and the second are called “direct to consumer” loans (DTC in lender terms).
Direct to Consumer Loans
With direct to consumer international student loans, the school is not really involved in the loan process at all. The student has to prove that he or she is enrolled in a school approved by the lender, typically by submitting a class schedule or letter of acceptance; however, the school itself does not need to do anything. The student can borrow the amount that the student decides is needed, up to a maximum set for that school by the lender, and the lender doesn’t care or know what other funds the student may have available. The upside is that these loans are very flexible, very fast in processing, and typically paid directly to the student. The downside is that they are easier to abuse and get in trouble by borrowing too much, as there is no school involved in determining exactly how much the student needs to borrow to afford his or her education. Often direct to consumer loans have higher interest rates and fees than school channel loans as well – the difference can be minor or major.
School Certified Loans
In school certified or school channel loans, the financial aid office is involved in determining exactly how much a student can borrow. The school looks at all of the student’s available funds, scholarships, other aid or loans, etc., and sets a maximum borrowing amount that could be far lower than the maximum total permitted for a school. For instance, as a very rough example, if a school had a total maximum annual cost of attendance of $30,000, then a student with no personal or family funds available and no other aid could borrow up to $30,000. However, if the school determined that the family should pay $5,000 per year and the student received a scholarship for $10,000 per year, then the student would only be approved to borrow $15,000 per year. For this reason, school channel loans are harder to abuse by borrowing too much, usually offer lower interest rates than DTC loans, but are less flexible and take longer. Funds are disbursed to the school, not the student.
DTC Loans No Longer Available
Over the past 18 months, as a result of the credit crunch and student loan legislation, most (if not all) direct to consumer private student loans have disappeared, and all direct to consumer international student loans have certainly disappeared. Only school channel international student loans are left, including on InternationalStudentLoan.com.
This means that it is even more important to work through your school, plan carefully, and only budget to borrow the smallest possible amount you need – as that is all the school will certify you for anyway. ANd start your process earlier, as it takes time to process a school channel loan. The lender and school each have to do their part in evaluating your eligibility for a loan and the amount you can take, and this extends the process.
Click here to learn about the international student loans available through InternationalStudentLoan.com.
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As the fall semester approaches, and the level of inquiries that we receive about international student loans peaks, its a good time to review the state of play in the market for international student loans. Much has changed in the past year.
The credit crunch and economic crisis continues to impact the availability of international student loans. There are many fewer lenders providing private loans to international students than there were a year ago. Underwriting and credit criteria have gotten tougher, and school lists have shrunk.
InternationalStudentLoan.com continues to try to direct students to the best lender under current, admittedly less than ideal, market conditions. To find a lender that may be appropriate for you, visit the InternationalStudentLoan.com Apply page, submit basic information about your school and educational level and the school picker will direct you to the most appropriate lender that we are aware of.
Remember, all regularly-available international student loans require a US co-signer.
There are a few business schools (for instance, the business schools at Harvard, Yale, University of Chicago, University of Virginia, Duke University, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, MIT, University of Michigan and University of California – Berkeley) that will provide no-cosigner loans to their own international MBA students. These prestigious business schools have the resources and ability to negotiate special arrangements with lenders for their international students, and students there should certainly take advantage of these programs.
For everyone else, make sure you talk directly with your international student office and financial aid office. People in those offices are in the best position to know if your school has any special financing arrangements in place for international students, and simply to provide guidance in general.
Reports continue about the problems caused by the lack of international student loans this year. Although international student loans have never been available to the general population of international students without a co-signer, a few prestigious schools had negotiated with Citibank and Sallie Mae for no-cosigner private student loan programs for their students in particular. We talked about the University of Chicago custom loan program in this blog last year.
A new article in CIO Today addresses the problems students at these schools face now that CitiAssist and Sallie Mae have terminated many of those school-sponsored custom programs. From the article:
“A number of leading business schools and graduate programs were dealt a serious blow this fall when big private lenders including CitiAssist and Sallie Mae suddenly terminated their popular “no co-signer” student loan programs. The canceled loan programs, which typically allowed applicants to obtain up to $150,000 without a co-signer to assume stewardship of the loan should the borrower default, were a financial lifeline for many international students, many of whom have no other way to finance their MBA educations. They were yet another victim of the credit crunch, which has decimated many private lenders and made those still in business more cautious than ever.”
You can read the complete story on CIO Today.
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