USA Scholarships for Pakistani Students: What's Actually Available Now

Written & reviewed by Pro Consulting's Education Advisors — we track USEFP and Fulbright programme changes directly, so applicants aren't planning around a scholarship that quietly no longer exists.

Current proof it's active: USEFP hosted its 2026 cohort's pre-departure orientation in Islamabad this month — 85 Pakistani students and researchers (71 Master's, 14 PhD, and 6 Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Fellows) heading to US universities this fall. Nearly 3,000 Pakistanis have received Fulbright scholarships since 2005, making it the largest and longest-running US-Pakistan academic exchange.

• Covers: full tuition, travel expenses, a living stipend, and health insurance for a Master's or PhD at a US university
• Eligibility: Pakistani citizenship; a four-year Bachelor's degree (or Bachelor's + Master's totalling 16 years of education); strong academic record; most fields open (clinical medicine is excluded)
• Test requirements: most programmes require a GRE General Test score plus TOEFL or IELTS for English proficiency
• A genuinely useful detail: USEFP reimburses the GRE fee for applicants at HEC-approved public universities who score 300+ (engineering/science) or 290+ (humanities/social science), on a limited first-come basis — request it with your application
• The commitment: successful candidates sign a contract (PhD candidates also bond with HEC) to return to Pakistan and serve for a period matching their scholarship length

The application portal typically opens around November and closes in the spring — if your GRE or TOEFL score isn't ready yet, our GRE Test Fee in Pakistan (2026) guide covers current registration costs and the USEFP reimbursement process in more detail, and our TOEFL Exam Fee in Pakistan guide covers the English test side.

What this actually means for you: there's no separate application, essay, or deadline for "the scholarship" — you apply for undergraduate admission normally, and if admitted, the financial aid office calculates your family's demonstrated need and funds the gap, sometimes down to $0 out of pocket. The catch is the acceptance rate: these schools admit in the low single digits to low double digits, and they're competing against the strongest applicants in the world, not just Pakistan.

Is Global UGRAD really closed, or just paused for this cycle?

USEFP's own statement describes it as the programme coming "to an end" after 15 years, on instruction from the US State Department. There's no confirmed reopening, so treat it as discontinued rather than paused.

Does Fulbright cover undergraduate study?

No — Fulbright in Pakistan funds Master's and PhD study (plus the smaller FLTA track). For fully funded undergraduate study, the realistic route is admission to one of the need-blind universities discussed above.

Do I need the GRE for every US graduate application?

Most Fulbright graduate programmes require it, but requirements vary by university and course outside Fulbright — some US graduate programmes have gone GRE-optional in recent years. Confirm directly with each target programme rather than assuming.

If I can't afford a need-aware university, is there no funding at all?

Need-aware doesn't mean zero aid — many still offer partial scholarships and financial aid packages to admitted international students, just without a guarantee of meeting 100% of need. It's worth applying and asking directly about aid packages rather than ruling a university out on assumption alone.