Greetings. Thanks for stopping and giving attention to my mail.
My son is an US citizen by birth born to Indian parents. We are Indian Citizens (not Permanent Residents) - I was working in US from 1996 to 1999 and moved back to India when my son was one year old. He is currently in high school (Class XII) under local Indian school board (Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi) and would appear for final exam in March 2016. He would start his undergraduate course from Fall 2016. He intends to study Engineering.
We have so far planned him to undertake undergrad studies in India. However, recently, we found out that here in India he would have to apply as foreigner (even though he is registered as OCI - Overseas Citizen of India) and admission will be on basis of SAT Subject Test scores. Accordingly, he is planning to appear in SAT Subject Tests (Maths II, Physics, Chemistry) in December 2015.
I would request information around his possibility of applying for admission in US universities since he anyway has to write SAT. Specifically, I would like to know:
Is writing SAT in Dec 2015 too late for applying for Undergrad Studies in US for Fall 2016 session? If not, what additional test he would need to write (like TOEFL, SAT I, etc.)?
Would he have to apply as US Citizen or International Citizen? He was born in Michigan, and last State Tax I filed for MI was for year 2000. In between I had stayed in US for a short period and filed Federal & Illinois Taxes for year 2006 and 2007. I assume he will not qualify to be in-state in either of the state.
Will he be eligible for applying for Aids in US? If yes, will that be through FAFSA or something else?
I may have more questions based on the responses. I recognize we are now in race against time, so will appreciate a quick responses.
No, most schools should accept December SAT or even the January SAT. However, since he has lived oversees for the most of his life, he may have to take additional standardized tests - please check with individual institutions for the accurate information.
If he has a birth certificate from the States and/or a US Passport, he is by definition classified as a US Citizen. I’m not too sure regarding taxes and the status.
Yes, if his US citizenship was not revoked for any reason (likely not) or he has relinquished his US citizenship in exchange for the Indian citizenship, he will be considered as a domestic applicant thus eligible for federal aid. The process will be done through FAFSA and/or institution specific forms.
Consider taking the SAT on an earlier date, then reserving the December date as a backup to retake it if he is not satisfied with his test score. I highly recommend buying an SAT study guide book from a bookstore, to prepare for the test.
He should apply as a US Citizen. There are many US citizens who reside overseas. If you (the parents) are not US citizens nor permanent residents, and have not been residing in the US for the last several years, I believe you are no longer required to file a US income tax return.
That is correct; he will not qualify to be an in-state student. But many private schools offer generous financial aid and/or merit scholarships irrespective of place of residency.
Be pragmatic and apply to a wide range of schools. Do NOT be blinded by prestige worship and apply to only the most selective schools-- this could leave him empty handed. The most-selective schools are EXTREMELY difficult to get admitted into, and your son’s country of residence may make things more challenging for him, because while he is eligible for FA as a citizen, his country of residence may pit his application against a very, very crowded pool of int’l applicants from India. GOOD LUCK.
He should let each place that he is interested in know that he is a US citizen educated abroad, and ask what requirements that place has for students like him. Don’t be surprised if each place has different requirements. Each has its own policy.
In some states he might be able to establish in-state residence on his own for the public colleges and universities. However, in almost every case that would require that he live in that state for a year and provide more than half of his own support before enrolling. Each state (and often each public college/university within a state) sets its own policy, so your son needs to check the college/university websites for this information. In the past, some of the public universities in Missouri would allow students to establish in-state residence by remaining in state through the summer vacations while working summer jobs. I do not know if that is still true.
One possible resource is https://educationusa.state.gov/ Ask at the Advising Center closest to you for the name of a counselor who has worked with US citizens before. There are a lot of them in India, so I expect someone within the EducationUSA network has developed a certain amount of expertise.
Thanks so much for your prompt and very useful response. Really appreciate that.
My son has both US Birth Certificate and US Passport. So, I am taking up that he will have to apply as US Citizen.
He has just started preparing for SAT and has school exams in September and November. Moreover, at the SAT test centers nearby to our residence, the Oct and Nov dates are all booked up. That’s why we have scheduled for December date. I get your suggestion of taking one earlier, but it is not suiting us. He would make one serious attempt in Dec and lets hope he is able to do justice to his abilities.
As suggested by you all, we will start contacting Universities/Institutes where he possibly can study - his interest being Mechanical/Automobile Engineering. Lets see if he gets favorable responses. We are not looking specifically at IVY League!! All decent institutes not too expensive would be of our interest.
One last question - do you or any one else has a suggestion on what book he should read for preparing for SAT? I see plenty of books available for SAT Subject Tests. He has got Princeton Review books for Maths, Physics and Chemistry. Will those suffice, or would McGraw Hill or Baron or something else would be better? Considering he barely has three months to prepare, it may not be possible for him to refer to multiple books.
Appreciating again your prompt and valuable responses.
The College Board publishes practice exams and review materials for all of its tests, if you can get those it would be a good thing.
To be perfectly honest, the most useful thing you can do for your son’s college search is to determine how much you can pay. All of the colleges and universities have a Net Price Calculator at their website. You can run them, but they aren’t known to be accurate for students living outside the US. Be sure to take a good long look at the posted Cost of Attendance instead of relying solely on the results of the NPC. To learn more about financial aid, spend some time in that forum here.