Hello,

This is my first posting on the forum.

I am a United States citizen and was recently accepted to a Masters of Science program at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.  I am looking for some form of scholarship, fellowship or financial assistance to help with tuition costs.

Because I am a non-EU citizen, my tuition is about 3 times the amount a Spanish or citizen of another EU country would pay.  The school itself has a grant/scholarship program, but because of current economic conditions the amount of aid has been cut down drastically and is being granted primarily to second- or third-year students.

I realize it simply might not be a good time to go to university in Spain as a non-EU citizen, but I imagine there must be some type of opportunities for financial aid as a US citizen.  I am in touch with the Spanish consulates in Washington DC and in my hometown of Chicago, but I thought someone on the forum might be—or have been at one time—in a similar position and be able to point me in a good direction.

The program itself will not begin for me until Fall 2013 (I am currently on acceptance deferral until next year).  It is a MSc in Sound and Music Computing.  My background is in music, science and the arts, if this is of any relevance.

I appreciate any help or suggestions.

Saludos,
Andrew

Hey Andrew,
Tough one. I really doubt there is any extra aid for anyone right now, let alone a foreigner (no dis, we are too). Your best shot might be some sort of aid or grants from the US.

Out of curiosity, why did you apply to Pompeu Fabra without having the financing in place to do it? If it’s a unique program that might mean there’s a better shot of getting a grant, etc from the US.

Hello Expatriator,

Thank you for your reply.

It was primarily for a personal reason that I was not able to acquire the financing.  I decided to decline an offer for funding which I felt was not in my best interest. 

After making this decision, I rather naively thought that the school would be able to offer some assistance, but again, funding was severely limited.  The best they could do was offer suggestions for banks where I could take out a loan.  I have never taken a loan before, however, and would prefer to keep it that way.

Finally, because I was quite busy finishing up another masters in Berlin in spring of 2012, I submitted my portfolio to Pompeu Fabra during the last round of applications and was not officially accepted until late July.  I of course realized my folly at the time and wished I had just made time to put the application together earlier.  I am hoping that because I am already accepted to the program it will give me a certain advantage when applying for grants and scholarships when they reopen in early 2013.  But I am not holding out on this.

Thus, I am searching for grants and scholarships now.  I think you are right and will have most luck focusing my search on the US side of things.

Thanks again!

Hmm, or… go the bank route. It’s a tough time to get loans for anything, and I have no idea what it’s like for student loans, but if you’re serious about going you will not want to discount any options. Sounds like you might want to tap the other funding source again to see if it’s still available too.

As someone who borrowed 10s of thousands of dollars for a music degree and am still paying it off 15 years later, I am one to highly discourage anyone from taking out loans for school unless they have a realistic and solid career path planned to be able to pay it back. Especially private loans, they are a burden. Trust me.

But if you have your heart set on studying in Spain, you can get US gov loans and grants to cover certain international schools. There is a list out there, you will just have to do a little digging online to find it. They have need based grants just based on a FAFSA too, but the application opened Jan 1st, so it might be a little late this year.

If you talk to a financial aid office at a college in your area, likely they will have an entire book of scholarships for almost every area of study. No guarantees that you would get one, but its a good place to start.

Finally, if you are not as attached to the school in Barcelona as just studying in Spain, Berklee College of Music (not a plug, just an FYI), has a school in Valencia that definitely qualifies for US aid and also has scholarships. If music engineering is your plan, I can say it is probably one of their better programs.

Hope that helps. 😊