The main forms of financial assistance provided to graduate students by U.S. universities are:
Fellowships: awarded on the basis of academic merit, in recognition of scholarly excellence. Fellowships don’t require pay back. They come with prestige, generous funding and no strings attached, unlike the other funding arrangements described in what follows. However, they tend to be in limited numbers. Most Romanian students enrolled on graduate programs in the U.S. have some other forms of financial aid.
Grants: gifts that you don’t need to repay. Students may receive grants from the government or through private sources of funding. Private grants usually come in the form of scholarships and have their own guidelines.
 Teaching assistantships (TA): many departments offer teaching assistantships to their top applicants who can demonstrate good oral communication skills and teaching experience. A teaching assistant, often referred to as graduate TA, assists faculty by performing teaching or teaching-related duties. In addition to their school commitments as master or doctoral students, the teaching assistants will have work responsibilities.
Some teaching assistants have full responsibility for teaching a course - usually one that is introductory in nature -which can include preparation of lectures and exams, and assigning final grades to students. Others provide assistance to faculty members, which may consist of a variety of tasks such as grading papers, monitoring exams, holding office hours or help-sessions for students, conducting laboratory sessions, or administering quizzes to the class. Teaching assistants generally meet initially with the faculty member whom they are going to assist in order to determine exactly what is expected of them, as each faculty member may have his or her own needs.
Graduate TAs usually have flexibility in their work schedules, just like college and university faculty, but they also must spend a considerable amount of time pursuing their own academic coursework and studies. The number of hours that TAs work varies, depending on their assignments. The maximum work load is 20 hours per week.
Based on the Romanian students’ experience, the Teaching Assistantship is one of the best deals available to graduate students. As a graduate TA, you can typically expect to receive an annual stipend between $6,500 and $15,000, as well as free tuition. At some larger universities, you may be eligible for additional benefits.
If you choose to pursue a Teaching Assistantship, you’ll find it beneficial in many respects. The financial rewards of the position are only part of the story. As TA, you'll gain valuable experience in and out of the classroom and have the opportunity to interact closely with faculty members in your department. The relationships you develop with your professors are crucial to your future success. The opportunity to work with them more closely, as colleagues of some sort in the teaching program, can help you establish yourself in the department.
 Research assistantships (RA): just like the teaching assistantship, this is another form of financial assistance provided to students (usually graduate students) through part-time academic employment, in this case by assisting a faculty member with his or her research.
Many times the RA positions are awarded by the professors in the department and not by the department. RAs are often paid from the grants professors attract. That’s why it’s often productive to get in touch with the professors (the department web pages provide the email addresses of all the professors in every department, as well as information about the fields in which they are working). Applicants may choose to contact the professor and write to him/her about their interests. If the professor is interested, he/she will get in touch with the applicant.
Commonly, a graduate student who is appointed research assistant directly partcipates in or provides support to the research mission of the unit, in the design of experiments, data collection, analysis, or reporting of research results in the student's field of study, where research may, but is not required to, contribute directly to the student's thesis or dissertation.
Research assistants support faculty research agendas and provide a valuable service to the faculty as well as to the department. Students chosen as Research Assistants commit to working maximum 20 hours/week with a faculty member. The duties of a student Research Assistant will be varied, and they will support research and/or the School's mission.
The student benefits as a Research Assistant usually include:
If you are interested in a research assistantship, you should be able to demonstrate research skills and team spirit.
Loans: Financial aid packages offered by U.S. graduate programs may also include study loans. The terms are usually very attractive (low interest rate that begins to accumulate usually upon graduation). Some U.S. schools offer international students loans that don’t require a U.S. co-signer. However, huge loans from the U.S. may work against you when you apply for a U.S. study visa.
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Most of the approx. 1000 Romanian students enrolled on undergrad programs in the U.S. have received a comprehensive financial aid package from their colleges and universities. Some have won a full ride (which means that the US school is paying all the academic year costs), some have been offered partial financial aid. Some went to the U.S. paying as little as $300 for a year of study that costs $47,800, some had to pay all the living expenses, that is almost $11,000.
Sports scholarships are awarded to students who have distinguished themselves in a particular sport. If you are such a gifted student athlete, you may choose to play for the college team as a means of paying for your education. Still, you must meet the university entrance requirements, and then continue to obtain satisfactory grades in order to receive and maintain your scholarship. 
