AECC Global Nigeria Study Abroad Scholarship Guidance

Merit-based scholarships are given purely performance-based, as the name suggests. In this type of abroad scholarship, the performance doesn’t need to be academic-based but also can be in sports, liberal arts and extracurricular activities. To acquire this scholarship, students need to be at the top of their game, excelling in each exam, sports event, art event, or other community involvement. The other way to acquire this scholarship is to pass the scholarship exam conducted by the scholarship board, university, or school.

Need-based scholarships are given to immigrant students who come from financially-backwards sections. The scholarship sometimes may cover the total amount of the fees or sometimes only partially cover the fees. The amount includes tuition fees, airfare costs, living costs, etc. To acquire this scholarship, students have to provide the income certificate of their parents as proof of their financial standing.

Student-specific scholarships are for specific students who belong to certain groups like gender and class. Women and minority groups are more concentrated in this type of abroad scholarship. Even students with some kind of medical history are awarded this scholarship to make sure every kind of student attends a college or a university to continue their education.

Program-specific scholarships are given to students who take a particular education stream or education program available in a college or university. These scholarships are awarded to promote or boost a particular education program value, to make sure students, and the course are benefitted in terms of increase in the value and recognition. Students are chosen for the scholarship if they choose the particular program and also if their educational performance is top-level.

College-specific scholarships are the ones given by a specific college or university alone. These scholarships cannot be sought in other universities or colleges. Even though funds are collected from private or public bodies, those funds are distributed by the specific university or college. This type of scholarship requires consistent excellent academic performance.

Career-specific scholarships are more similar to program-specific scholarships given to promote a career where talents are less. These scholarships are awarded by the universities promoting a particular career.

Funds are money that is available for international students to commence their higher education abroad. There are various types of funds that students can use to pay for their education.

1. Parental support - Some parents can afford their children's education without the help of a government or public organisation. They have wealth and are rich enough to not take education loans, etc.
2. Self-support - In this situation, students are needed to fund themselves as they may come from a financially backward family. They might not have much inheritance to spend for their abroad education. So students have to work and save money for their education fees.
3. Student Loans - Student Loans are nothing but education loans banks provide to students to help them continue their higher education. So once a student completes their education, they pay back the loan in instalments by finding work related to their study program.
4. Work-study Programs - This is a type of fund, raised by students working in their college or university campuses in their free time. The money that is raised through working is saved later to pay for the education tuition fees.
5. Bursaries - Bursaries are kinds of scholarships provided to the financially weaker sections. These funds need not be paid back as they come under the scholarship. Sometimes the bursaries may cover the full tuition fees, and sometimes not.
6. Scholarships - Scholarships are funds provided by a government, university, NGO or private institutions. Scholarships are given purely based on the academic excellence of the students.