Loan Programs for International Students w/o US Co-Signer???

NewMBAApplicant,

You bring up a good point. Most schools do NOT provide the full Cost of Education. Common cases include providing up to the cost of tuition and fees or a certain percentage of the CoE. I am providing below the details of the schools whose no-cosigner loan programs I am aware of:

Wharton: Up to 80% of the Cost of Education.

Booth: Up to the FULL Cost of Education.

Tuck: Up to the full cost of tuition and fees. Admitted students (domestic AND international) with greater need are eligible for an additional smaller loan that Tuck provides itself. Ends up being the same as Wharton, Darden etc.

Darden: Up to 80% of the Cost of Education.

Cornell Johnson: Up to the cost of tuition and fees only. It is very important to note for international students, that you can NOT use the Cornell loan on your Declaration of Finances, which you will need to send to the school to get your I-20. So for Cornell to send you the I-20, you will need to show the full Cost of Education for one year from your own funds (which is something like $76,000). Cornell is the only school that I am aware of that does this.


In most cases the schools will ask for your finances (tax returns, salary receipts etc), in order to determine how much loan you will be eligible for. This is usually not a big deal at all.

It is worth mentioning that most top schools expect you to have some finances of your own, which is why they don't provide the full CoE. If you are good enough to get admitted to any of these programs, you probably have had a successful career so far, and should have some decent savings.

Also note that the figures I provided are valid for those matriculating in 2012. For those applying this year (matriculating in 2013), some of the figures might change. Although any major changes are unlikely, I would advise all applicants to check with the schools when the fall application season gets into full swing.

Hope this helps.