How to study in US free of cost

The Universities employ graduate students, as teaching and research assistants and pay them a salary, in addition to tuition waiver or reduction. An assistantship income enables a student to pay for the education and lead a modest lifestyle.

There are not enough people who are interested in pursuing MS and PhD degrees in Science and Engineering fields. So the Universities rely heavily on international students to join the MS and PhD programs in technical fields.

The main reason a University is willing to financially support students is to increase its research output and paper publication, which in turn drive the University rankings. So maximum funding is available for research based degrees, particularly PhD.

Most Universities employ teaching assistants who help the Professors with teaching, grading or lab supervision. Preference is given to PhD students for teaching assistantship, and some proficiency in English is also expected in some cases.

Masters degree programs which do not have a research component do not offer a high number of assistantships or fellowships. For example, MBA programs or non-thesis based MS degrees.

If you are planning to apply to a department which offers Masters Degree with both thesis and non thesis options, it is always better to apply for thesis option, if you are interested in getting funded.

It is very important criteria for international students to get funded. The key to funding is to apply to a University who will consider you to be good enough for an assistantship or funding. If you are good enough to get admission to a 20th ranked program without funding, there are good chances that a 40th ranked program will admit you with funding. So to enhance your chance of getting funded, you may consider applying to a few lower ranked Universities in addition to your top choices.