Great points here. I myself am a Malaysian who grew up poor, but I studied in the US and graduated a few years ago, and is currently working in the U.S. Allow me to share some tips.

First of all, keep in mind that you can study in the United States for free if you know how to play the system's game. But it will take a lot of persistence and hard work.

Step1: Register every year for the Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery:
http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...types_1322.html
It should open around October this year. Think of it as a golden ticket towards an American dream.

For Asia, the winning chance per year for this permanent residence green card is 0.84%. If you get it, you have a 50% chance of getting one of the allocated 50,000 slots.  This method allows you to apply for all financial aids just like domestic U.S. students, and you could potentially fund your entire education this way. Also, upon graduation since you're already a PR with green card, you aren't limited by the OPT and H-1B rules. You can stay as long as you want and work anywhere, even off-campus while studying. F-1 international students are usually limited to working on-campus or risk losing their status. There's dozens of other benefits of a green card, look it up.

Step 2: Apply for any Malaysian program that sponsors your education in the US. Like Fullbright: http://www.macee.org.my/index.php/fulbrigh...-for-malaysians

Step 3: Research for U.S. schools that offer in-state tuition for international students. This will save you hundreds & thousands of dollars. A degree is just a piece of paper, your job experience, networking and capability means so much more.

Example - Minnesota schools that offer scholarships/in-state tuition to int. students:
http://www.fundingusstudy.org/SearchResult...&state=MN&spon=

Step 4: Apply for any scholarships out there. Every single one if possible, with a kick-ass personal essay and list of accomplishments on a website portfolio. No email attachments, it must be extremely easy to read or it goes straight into the trash. http://www.fundingusstudy.org/StateSearch.asp

Step 5: If you're determined to graduate from an (Ivy League/expensive reputable school for your major) school, make sure to go to a community college first to earn at least 20 credits before transferring into a 4-year-institution. KILL YOURSELF TO GET THAT 4.0. Apply to as many scholarships as you can. Then make sure to go to a university that offers banded tuition rates, where the tuition is locked after 12 credits. So let's say it costs $15000 for 12 credits per semester. If you take 18 credits, that's a savings of 6 credits and $7500 every semester. Assuming that your major requires 128 credits, and 20 credits transferred in, you'll just need 6 semesters of 18 credits in order to graduate. (3 years) This way, you'll get 36 free credits, that's a savings of $45,000 in the long run. The higher the tuition cost, the more you save.

Step 6: Find an American host family and bond with them greatly. Tell them about your poor upbringing and your dreams to succeed in the U.S. Help them with any problems the best you possibly can. I got free housing, food, and eventually a car by this method. It is also possible to find someone to help sponsor you. All U.S. schools require that you show a minimum financial solvency to support your first year of education, ranging from $25000 to $50000. A sponsor can help you gain acceptance, they just need to write a letter of support and provide original bank statements, they suffer no penalty whatsoever if you fail to pay tuition later. An acceptance gives you the eligibility to apply for scholarships. (Very limited for international students unless you have a green card)

Step 7: Keep in mind that it's possible work in the US and pay off your entire tuition and cover living expenses even if you can't find a scholarship, provided that you attend a school that offers in-state tuition for international students. According to F-1 rules, international students aren't required to take summer courses. So you can work the full 3 months of Summer while working 20 hours max during Spring and Fall semesters. If you can speak chinese you can easily find a waiter job that pays about $3000+ a month. It's a difficult job with long hours, but worth it in the long run. This is the most common approach, you could also do other jobs to supplement your income but it depends on your sets of skills. Note: F-1 students are generally not allowed to work off-campus. But the percentage of getting caught is extremely low. Like 0.01%. Options like CPT or employment based on severe economic hardship exists, but some restrictions apply that makes it counter-productive. Countries like Canada are more lenient, they allow int. students to work off-campus and PR is easily attainable, but that's another topic for another time. =)

Some people go for plasma/sperm/ovum donations, and become research participants in drug trials to earn a couple thousand dollars in just a month. I do not recommend this as your health is your No.1 asset.

Step 8: This is the fun and easy part. Decide what career you want, and which school & state.

10 lowest unemployment states:
http://www.investinganswers.com/personal-f...-shrinking-4348

10 college majors with lowest unemployment rates:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/10-col...-163049193.html

New emerging jobs with rapid growth and detailed overview:
http://www.onetonline.org/find/bright?b=3&g=Go

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Secret Method: Study in any U.S. university for free.

This method is only possible if you have successfully obtained a green card to be a permanent resident in the U.S. Either via the lottery or other means.

All American schools are open areas and usually do not check for student ID. This means that anyone who looks like a student can freely walk in to any class and listen to lectures, if the class is big enough. When there's 100+ students in a big room, you will not stand out. You're there to just learn. You can also easily obtain the class syllabus for your desired majors and find out the course structure, so that you know what books to buy. Most of college education is self education anyways.

If you're in an engineering or computer science field where most of the material can be learned with just a computer and a book, you can gain valuable knowledge in order to start your own projects and be hired from that alone. It's a little more difficult if you don't have a degree, but remember, it's just a piece of paper.
The hardest part would be acquiring enough funds to move to your desired University's area, and cover living expenses.

Note: Steve Jobs dropped out of college after six months and spent the next 18 months dropping in on creative classes, including a course on calligraphy. He continued auditing classes at Reed while sleeping on the floor in friends' dorm rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple. Jobs later said, "If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts."

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Open Method#1: Study in a U.S. university remotely

This helps you gets used to the U.S. education system, and explore your range of interests before committing to a major. It's always difficult to decide your major without trying the courses first, so the best method is to try everything with promising career outlooks and see which major truly keeps you interested.

MIT Opencourseware: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/

MITx: https://6002x.mitx.mit.edu/courseware/6.002...erview/Welcome/

Harvard+MIT starting Fall 2012: http://www.edxonline.org/about.html

Stanford: http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx

Misc free online courses:
http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
(Oxford, UC Berkeley, MIT, Yale, Harvard, UCLA, etc)

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Open Method#2: Be taught by the best U.S. professors & experienced professionals remotely.

Udacity - 21st Century University http://www.udacity.com/
(Taught by Sebastian Thrun - Stanford, Steve Huffman - Cofounder of Reddit, etc)


Okay, that's enough for now, just to get you started. Apologies in advance for the long post, I hope it was somewhat helpful. Remember, it's only impossible if you give up. Good luck~! =)