The sticker price puts off many French families: at Harvard, the total cost of a year exceeds 95,000 dollars in 2026-2027. Yet for some of the students admitted to the wealthiest universities, that figure means almost nothing. These universities fund families according to their income, international students included, and a family on an average income can end up paying less than for a French business school.
Provided you know where to look. "Scholarship for an American university" covers two very different systems, and most American universities give very little aid to international students.
Need-based aid or merit scholarships
The first kind of aid depends on the family's income and assets: need-based aid, the largest form at the most selective universities. The second rewards a profile, academic, artistic or athletic: merit scholarships, offered by some universities to attract students, often in competition with more prestigious ones.
The best-known universities generally offer only the first. The eight Ivy League universities, for instance, award no athletic scholarships. A very strong French student hoping for an "excellence scholarship" at Harvard is looking at the wrong system: at Harvard, aid depends on what the family can pay, not on grades.
The universities that fund international students
A small number of American universities combine two commitments: they admit applicants without regard to ability to pay, international students included, and they meet the full financial need of those admitted. MIT says it is one of nine universities in the country in this position. Harvard, Yale and MIT all state it for their international applicants.
Harvard publishes precise thresholds: below 100,000 dollars of annual income, the expected parent contribution is zero; up to 200,000 dollars, aid covers at least tuition. The university states that international students are eligible for exactly the same aid as Americans, and that it never requires loans.
Other highly selective universities help international students but take their aid request into account at admission. Stanford, for example, meets the need of all admitted students, but an international applicant's aid request makes admission more selective. Most other American universities have very little aid for international students.
Example: Harvard in 2026-2027. Total cost of a year from 95,134 to 100,134 dollars, of which 62,226 is tuition. Zero parent contribution below 100,000 dollars of income, tuition covered up to 200,000 dollars, same rule for international students. These amounts change every year.
How to get a scholarship for an American university
The request is made at the same time as the application, not after admission. Many universities that help international students use the College Board's CSS Profile, a detailed form on family income and assets, which can be completed in the local currency. It costs 25 dollars for the first university and 16 dollars for each additional one. Universities then ask for supporting documents, such as tax returns.
Translating a French family's situation into American categories is not straightforward: self-employment income, savings, a second home, separated parents. Each university applies its own rules to calculate need. American universities publish a net price calculator: it is the tool to use before even building the list, to know what an admission would really cost.
Building the university list around funding
For a family that cannot pay full price, funding changes the application strategy. A realistic list combines universities that admit international students without regard to need, universities that award merit scholarships, and fallback options that do not depend on aid. Applying only to universities that give little to international students means risking admission without being able to go.
This is one of the points we handle with families at Carmine: estimating the net cost, choosing universities accordingly, the CSS Profile and documents. The general mechanics of applications are in Do US universities accept the French baccalaureate?, and the most selective universities in Getting into the Ivy League from France.