Well, I go to Univ. of South Alabama (USA) but not to EE department. Assistantships not that easily available but there is one Nepali grad student in EE department who recently received GA. I think there are other 3-4 grad students in EE without GA. I would say, it depends upon program and luck. You never know what is waiting for you. Personally, I had assistantship while doing my masters and now have guaranteed source of funding for another 3-4 years for another degree. As i mentioned earlier, it is highly individual based outcomes that u need not to be worried much. Some students get and few don't. So try it out by writing your interest into the department preferably to the individual professor. Rest of the things are wonderful, we have medium size city with about half a million population and is relatively cheaper. We are about 100 Nepalese students, most of us are undergrads. If you needed any other specific information you can write to me or to our webmaster at http://www.usouthal.edu/nepal/