The expenses involved in pursuing higher education abroad and the availability of funding opportunities are important criteria to be considered. This section helps you understand the relevant components of total expenses as well as available financing options.

Sources of funds

Assistantships require students to provide certain services to the universities, and they are paid a stipend for the same. In some cases, the tuition fees may also be waived, while in other cases, it gets transferred to in-state fees (which are generally 40-50% lower than out-of-state fees). The following are the different assistantships offered:

• Graduate assistantship (GA) – The positions include computer lab consultant, student helper at the graduate office or at the library, etc. It helps if a student has specific computer-related skills or proven organizational abilities, while applying for these positions. Students can also be assigned short-term projects, like maintaining the university web page, or a data entry/ database management job.
  
• Teaching assistantship (TA) – Assignments are of two types, grading and teaching. Schools have an Oral English Proficiency Test for selecting candidates for the teaching assignments. The students would be expected to have undergone the same or similar course for a teaching position.
  
• Research assistantship (RA) – These requires students to assist faculty members in their research activities. In some schools, only students opting for a thesis option are eligible for RA. Normally, the student with a thesis option works on the thesis under the guidance of the professor for whom he/she works as a research assistant.