MPOWER Loan: How to Study in USA Without a US Co-Signer (2026)

[Music] Hi everyone. I'm here with Norina and uh she's just gotten approved for an empower loan and that loan is actually covering covering a large percentage of her um her expenses when she's going to come study in America. and she got the loan for the spring semester of 2026. So firstly, hi Norina. >> Hello. >> Uh who are you? Uh where do you come from? And also how did you discover Empire? >> So uh I come from Romania from not so small city but it's not the the capital. So I come from Yash Romania. And uh I studied psychology >> for my bachelor's. I did some courses in computer science and after that I just decided well I switched a little bit between the the majors and I decided on cyber security and the loan well I discovered it from two different parts. The first one I just searched any loan that would give me something as an international without an US cosigner cuz that's really difficult to find and I found empower. I wasn't really sure of it because I don't have experience with uh with loans of any kind. So then William told me about it in our lives. He told us that he found a way for master students to come and study in the US with a loan and he talked exactly about empower and that determined me to to apply at least apply. Applying isn't like legal binding binding. It doesn't like force you to get the loan, but you can see what what what amount you can get and if you're eligible. >> Yeah. Love it. And what university have you decided to go to? Um also, what was your major and um when are you coming? >> So, I decided to go with Pace University that's located in New York City and I decided to go for cyber security because um personally I didn't want to go to this major. I wanted to go to criminal justice or criminology but as we know is not a it is not a STEM degree. >> So in order to get the loan I needed to have a STEM degree and I just chose the the one that suits me the best with my qualifications. >> So I went with cyber security. Hopefully in the future maybe I'll get to cyber crime something in that in that area. and I'm coming spring 2026 term in uh starting in January. >> Wow. So when did you apply for Pace University? >> Uh I think I applied like in September like at the end of the month month September 20 something that's when I finished my application and I got I went for an accelerated admission day. So it's just one day decided by them. They call you up in uh during that they depending on when you scheduled your interview. They call you up. They ask you a few questions. They tell you about what they saw in your file and they just uh make a decision on the spot. So they tell you if you're accepted or not. >> Wow. So then you got accepted in September of 2025. >> Yeah. >> And then when did you apply for the loan and when did you get the loan? So, I already did like an eligibility check before I got accepted, but I put the information for Pace University, >> okay? >> Because that's where I wanted to go. So, I put the information for Pace University just to check my eligibility. I had the file there like uh in my Empire account I had a file and when I got accepted I just completed all the other uh like uh requirements the decision letter and I think my ID my passport all that stuff I just put it there and in the same day so the same day I attached the files I got my response with the amount approval and everything. >> Okay. Okay. So, if you don't mind us sharing with us what was the amount you got approved for and um how much are you going to be paying for your education in America? >> So, firstly, that was my mistake. I applied for the loan. I applied for a full academic year. So, I applied for fall 2026 and spring 2027 and I got approved for almost $70,000. Then I had to change that to spring 2026 because the disimbursement needed to happen when before I arrived to to Pace. So I changed that and they offered me the the maximum amount the $50,000. >> Mhm. >> And uh the last question was >> Yeah. Huh. How much are you going to be paying for your um personally? >> So for my university for this program at least the tuition fees and all that other stuff are $30,000. You can get a scholarship for that depending on what your file looks like. And after that, you have the living expenses for on campus housing and you also get like a meal card like food, you pay $24,000 for 9 months. So for the full academic year. >> Mhm. >> So in total for one year with student housing, it's 54,000. Mhm. >> So in total 54,000 and then you got a loan um at least for the the spring semester of 50,000. >> Yeah, I got a loan for the spring semester, but it like it covers a full year, you know? Yeah, >> because it's like I I don't I don't know yet if I'm going to pay for a full year or they're just going to take the spring term >> giving back the money and then I have to pay again for the for the spring for for the fall term. I don't know. But that loan covers a full year for me. >> Yeah. So what I'm seeing at the numbers over here, you said you also had an academic scholarship from Pace University. So in total um how much are you personally out of your pocket expected to contribute to your education? >> So with the scholarship and everything honestly I I'm not going to contribute anything from my pocket except I'm the visa the visa process the costs and everything and my flight is going to be covered by me because I don't have the loan money yet >> before I arrive in the United States. I don't have their money. when I get there, they're going to give me the the remaining of the funds back. So, it's like, I'm going to pay for this right now, my visa and my flight, and when I get there, I'm just going to get the money back. >> Mhm. >> I don't know if you would put that contribute by myself, but it's like, >> yeah, I I get the loan for myself. Like, I pay the visa and the the flight and I just get the money back when I get there. >> Wow. So then um if I got this right um when you going to your visa interview because now you've um scheduled for a visa interview um how much money do you have to show in your bank to the visa office? >> So for one year uh me personally for this program and this university I need to show 30 plus $54,000. I need to show them that I have that amount. So I have the loan and well I also have the scholarship that I got. Mhm. >> So that covers it about all I'm going to get for my safety. So I'm going to go there relaxed. I'm going to also get one financial statement from someone I know from a family relative that has like $30,000 like dollars. So I'm just going to combine those two. I'm going to show them the loan, the contract, everything. And I'm also going to show them that financial statement and tell them, well, in in case of an emergency or something, I have this person from my family that can help me out if I don't know if something happens that requires more money than I'm expected to pay. >> Yeah. Okay. Um but then basically um Empower Loan gives you a letter um that states that you've getting the loan, right? And then also >> on your I20 um your personal expenses. What did they say over there on your I20? What's the amount? >> So the personal expenses like living expenses. >> No, no. I mean sorry not the personal expenses. It's another word that they use there where it's like your expected contribution. What do they say? Oh, so in my E20 form you can see on the on the right side you can see scholarship and then right below under my personal like um financials it's like $0 because right beneath it it says education loan and it's the the amount I got from Empower. >> Mhm. >> So for Yeah. for me it says like $0. >> Yeah. So that means that the visa office is basically expecting to see zero dollars from you. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So um that is amazing. So you got the loan that's going to help cover basically your full cost of it to um attendance um because you also got a little bit of a scholarship and and now you're going to be coming to America. Um is there anything you wish people would know about this whole process and and um you know >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. like I don't know if I I don't know how to to like say it in a nice way but what I would suggest people do is not settle on one like one path I need to go to this major to this university in that term like fall spring I don't know because those plans can change right away you can decide I don't know it's better if I go to a PhD where mostly they're fully funded or it's better if I get a loan or it's better if I change my major into a STEM one because I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to go to a STEM approved. I need I wanted to go to something that is like more of a hobby for me. Not really making money, but I really like that that area of study and I wanted to go there. But then you have to think of it realistically. You're going to uh a different country. You need to make money. That's what we all need to do. And we then we have the money to like support our hobbies. >> Yeah. >> You know, so if you like I don't know if you want to go to language like uh foreign languages something that is not going to give you lots of money and maybe not open a lot of pathways to study in America, maybe choose like a STEM approved major. go there and in your free time you can do all of that. You can do any hobbies you like. Just don't settle. That's what I'm saying. Don't don't settle on something because I did that and I changed it like five times. >> Five times. >> Yeah. The university, the major, everything. I changed everything. If I show you like uh I think I have notes from when I started the process with like a list of universities and a list of majors and it's totally different from when from where I'm going right now. >> Yeah. Well, so being open to to changes in the future. >> I um I really do appreciate you sitting with me over here and answering all the questions that I had. Again, congratulations for getting accepted to Pace. Also congratulations for your visa interview and congratulations for the loan. Um you are living proof that you know people can come and study in America still in 2025 2026. Um so >> yeah. Yeah. One other thing I would suggest people do with this don't don't listen to to everything that uh people are saying on the internet or stuff about America in this moment because in my country and I think in every country you can see that on the news they only present the the bad things >> and it's not all that bad. So, where I'm from in Romania on the news, you can see everything from uh just bad things. Okay. But you don't go out in Romania and you experience all of that at once. It doesn't happen like that. >> Yeah. >> If they show the good things only the good thing on good things on TV and on social media, nobody would watch it. >> Yeah. So, they have to go for the bad things and therefore do not get dissuaded or look at all the negative and say, "Oh, I'm not going to come because it's all negative." Um, it's usually just the news and how they make the money. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I think William can can tell you that lots of times you see comments or like on live on posts and they're like don't come because this and that and that and it's not really true. Like that's something that okay happens but not in that way. >> Yeah. >> In the way they're portraying it to be. >> Yeah. you know uh you after you done of cyber security hopefully you can become a motivational speaker and >> motivated I absolutely love it but thank you so much Norina um you're amazing and I wish you the best and um yeah we'll be seeing you in America soon >> thank you and I hope to see you too in America not William is already in America the other people >> the other people yes yes love