Student loans in the USA: what international students can actually borrow

Eligibility depends on your visa status and year of study, with the year often being more important than expected. While this does not make financing impossible, it requires a different approach than for domestic students. Begin with scholarships and payment plans before considering loans. 

The figures below are current as of 2026; please verify them before making any commitments, as lending rates may change.

A loan typically covers remaining costs after scholarships, family contributions, and any permitted employment.

Can international students get student loans in the USA?

Yes, but most international students are not eligible for US federal student aid and instead use private lenders. The route splits by profile.

If you hold an F-1 visa, federal loans are closed to you, so you compare private options. With a US co-signer, the mainstream private market opens up. Without one, you fall back on a narrower set of international lenders. Those lenders mostly serve graduate students and final-year undergraduates rather than first-year students.

What follows is the eligibility by profile, the co-signer requirement and where it comes from, the real cost of borrowing, and how a loan supports your visa file. It describes lenders by category rather than naming a single product, because rates and terms change with each intake.

Why US federal student aid is closed to international students

International students on an F-1 visa are ineligible for US federal student aid. You cannot file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). You also cannot receive Pell Grants, federal Direct Loans (subsidised or unsubsidised), Graduate PLUS Loans or federal work-study [studentaid.gov, 2026].

To receive federal aid, you must be a US citizen, a US national, or fit the statutory definition of an eligible noncitizen. An eligible noncitizen is a person in one of a few specific immigration categories:

• Lawful permanent residents holding a Green Card.
• Refugees and asylees.
• Humanitarian parolees admitted for at least a year.
• Certain victims of human trafficking or abuse.
• Citizens of a small number of freely associated states [studentaid.gov, 2026].

A standard F-1 student visa meets none of these, which is why the federal system is closed to you.

US business schools state this plainly. SKEMA's BBA in International Business at the Raleigh campus notes directly that FAFSA awards from the US federal government are not accepted. The reason is that SKEMA operates as a private international institution rather than a traditional US college. The practical consequence is the same everywhere: build a non-federal funding plan before you enrol.

US private student loans and the co-signer wall

Most US private student loans require a co-signer who is a US citizen or permanent resident. The private market includes education-finance companies, retail banks, credit unions, and online lenders. The large majority ask for a co-signer with US credit history, a Social Security Number and a stable income.

A co-signer is a joint borrower who guarantees the debt and becomes fully liable if you stop paying. US lenders insist on one because they cannot easily read a foreign credit history or pursue repayment across borders. To a US lender, an international applicant with no domestic credit record and no US assets is an unquantifiable risk. Lenders routinely decline applications without a qualifying co-signer.

Some lenders offer a co-signer release once you are established. To qualify, you typically need a US Social Security Number, stable US employment and a run of consecutive on-time payments, often between 12 and 36 months. After that, you can remove the co-signer from the agreement.

If you have access to a creditworthy US co-signer, this mainstream market is usually the cheaper route. If you do not, your options narrow to the lenders covered next.

Image

Loans for international students without a US co-signer

A smaller group of lenders will fund international students without a US co-signer, but they mostly serve graduate and final-year undergraduate students. They do not rely on a US credit score or family collateral. Instead, they use predictive underwriting. They assess your future earning potential from your academic record, the standing and graduate outcomes of your school, and the demand for your field of study.

The level you have reached matters more than anything else here. As of 2026, the main no-co-signer lenders sit roughly like this:

• One leading international lender funds undergraduates only in their third and fourth years, the ones US universities call junior and senior year, plus all graduate levels. It does not fund first-year or second-year students.
• A second well-known lender finances postgraduate study only (Master's, MSc and MBA) and does not fund bachelor's degrees at all.
• A third, outcomes-based option lends to third- and fourth-year undergraduates and selected graduate students. It typically requires full-time enrolment, a minimum grade average and being within nine months of graduation.

That pattern has one important consequence for undergraduates.

The first years are the hardest to fund. An international student entering the first or second year of a four-year bachelor's degree has almost no access to US no-co-signer loans. These lenders focus on students close to graduation. So if you are starting an undergraduate programme, do not plan on a US loan for your early years. Bridge that period with family resources, school scholarships, and an interest-free payment plan. You keep any borrowing for later years, when more lenders will consider you. SKEMA's Global BBA and its Raleigh BBA both offer scholarships on academic and social criteria that reduce how much you need to find in those first years.

A note on naming lenders: never assume a given lender will finance your specific school or campus until you have checked its own list of eligible institutions. School eligibility varies by lender and by campus, and a lender that funds one campus of a school does not necessarily fund another.

Home-country loans and UK students

A loan from your own country is often cheaper than a US international loan, but national student-finance systems rarely fund a full degree taken abroad. Banks and government schemes in your home country may lend for overseas study, and the loan is then sent to the US school. Weigh the currency risk before you rely on it.

For students domiciled in the United Kingdom, the rules are firm. Four national bodies handle student finance: Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales, Student Finance Northern Ireland and the Student Awards Agency Scotland. None of them funds a full degree taken entirely at an overseas institution. That applies to both tuition and maintenance, and to undergraduate and postgraduate study [gov.uk, 2026]. Their support only continues if you are registered at a UK provider and spend a term or year abroad as an integrated part of a UK degree.

The Turing Scheme follows the same logic. For 2026 to 2027, it funds placements for students registered at a UK provider. It cannot fund someone enrolled directly in a degree at an overseas university [gov.uk, 2026].

Currency movement is a real cost, not a footnote. Say you fund a dollar-priced degree with pounds or euros, and your home currency weakens against the dollar over the years of study. Your real cost rises, even if the published price does not. Cross-border transfers also carry foreign-exchange fees, commonly between 2 and 6 per cent per transfer, which adds up across several years of payments.

How much international student loans cost

International student loans usually cost more than US domestic loans, and the way interest is handled matters as much as the headline rate.

In 2026, no-co-signer international lenders have advertised fixed rates starting near 10 per cent, with variable products running higher and some variable rates reaching the mid-teens. On top of that come origination or administrative fees of roughly 4 to 5 per cent of the amount borrowed. Treat any specific number as a dated reference point, not a quote. Rates are repriced at each intake and move with benchmark indices.

Three mechanics decide your total cost:

• A fixed rate stays constant for the life of the loan, so your monthly payment is predictable. A variable rate moves with a benchmark such as SOFR, the US reference interest rate, so payments can rise when interest rates rise.
• In-school deferment lets you postpone principal payments while you study. Interest still builds from the day the money is paid out.
• Interest capitalisation is the moment unpaid interest is added to your principal, at the end of a deferment or grace period. Interest is then charged on the larger balance.

A worked example shows why this matters. Take a third-year undergraduate borrowing $10,000 over a two-year study period, plus a six-month grace period, then repaying over ten years at a fixed rate near 10 per cent.

If you make interest-only payments of about $83 a month while studying, you keep the principal at $10,000, and the loan costs roughly $18,400 in total. If instead you defer everything and let the interest capitalise, the balance entering repayment grows to about $12,500. The loan then costs roughly $19,800, around $1,400 more for the same borrowing.

The figures are illustrative and depend on the rate and terms you are offered. The principle holds either way: paying interest as it builds up, where you can, is cheaper than letting it capitalise.

Image

A loan as proof of funds for your F-1 visa

A loan approval letter counts as proof of funds for your F-1 visa, which is one of the most useful things a loan does. Before you can apply for the visa, your school's Designated School Official issues a Form I-20. They cannot do so until you have shown documented funds covering at least one full academic year of tuition, fees and living costs [studyinthestates.dhs.gov, 2026].

Proof of funds is evidence that your money is liquid and verifiable. What is accepted and what is not follows a clear line:

• Accepted: bank statements showing liquid cash. An official loan sanction or approval letter from a recognised lender. Scholarship award letters from your school. Sponsor affidavits backed by liquid bank statements.
• Rejected: property and land, retirement accounts such as a 401(k) or pension, non-liquid stocks or cryptocurrency, and salary letters that are not matched by liquid savings.

Every scholarship or fee reduction works in your favour here, because it lowers the net amount you have to evidence to secure the I-20. SKEMA sets out the practical side of arrival, including visa, banking and housing, through its pre-arrival support for international students.

Alternatives that lower how much you borrow

The cheapest loan is the one you do not take, so reduce the amount you need before you borrow. Three options do most of the work, and they matter most in the early undergraduate years, when loans are hard to access.

Scholarships and school awards come first. Merit and social-criteria scholarships from the business school reduce tuition directly and, unlike a loan, never have to be repaid.

An interest-free payment plan is the second option. Rather than paying a year's tuition up front, many schools let you spread it across the year at no extra cost. SKEMA's Raleigh BBA, for example, charges $17,500 a year for the first three years. It offers a four-month, interest-free, semester-based payment plan that splits each semester's fees into instalments. The fourth year is priced by the partner university for the dual degree. The cost of that year therefore depends on the institution you move to, which is worth planning for in advance.

Permitted work is the third option, but keep it in proportion. On an F-1 visa, you may work on campus for up to 20 hours a week during term. That provides useful spending money, but not enough to cover tuition or repay a loan. Curricular and Optional Practical Training exist for professional experience, not as a way to service debt. Work supplements a budget; it does not finance a degree.

Which option fits your profile

The right route depends on your year of study and whether you can find a US co-signer.

• First- or second-year international undergraduate: Plan on family resources, school scholarships and an interest-free payment plan rather than a US loan. No-co-signer lenders will not yet consider you.
• Graduate student, or undergraduate in your final two years: No-co-signer international lenders become available. Compare rate type, fees, repayment term and grace period, rather than the headline rate alone.
• Applicant with a creditworthy US citizen or permanent-resident co-signer: The mainstream US private market is usually your cheapest route, often with a co-signer release later on.
• Applicant with neither a co-signer nor a strong loan option: Lean harder on scholarships, a payment plan and home-country funding. Use any loan approval mainly to satisfy the visa proof-of-funds requirement.

Whichever profile fits you, set your funding plan before you start an application. The Raleigh campus page sets out the programmes and entry routes, and you can open a file through the SKEMA application portal.