<p>Here is my situation. I am an resident of Cali, but I spent the whole 11 year studying in my home country, Vietnam (I went to Third grade in America). I am going to apply for college this year, and I am just wondering if i would apply as a resident, or an international student. I know that i must have something to prove my English using skills so i had a toelf ibt (94 pts). I do not know weather the college would see me as an instate or an international because i know that residents can get federal aid, and some other advantages. Here are things I plan to send to the college. 1. highschool GPA 2. TOELF score 3. SAT score 4. high school transcript 5 highschool diploma 6 teacher's letter 7 college essay. Do you think that i miss out something. Btw my SAT score is 1740 (R 440 W540 M760), do you think i have a shot to UCLA (i guess no tho :'() If someone can answer all my questions, I would appreciate that alot. Sorry for the crappy English tho.</p>
<p>" I am going to apply for college this year, and I am just wondering if i would apply as a resident, or an international student."</p>
<p>Depends. Are you a permanent resident/do you have a green card?</p>
<p>Unless one or both parents currently reside in California and claim you on their taxes, you will most probably be considered as an international. The default if a student is not a California resident is to either consider where their high school transcript is coming from, or where their parent/guardian claim residency and pay taxes. Where a student is born does not come into play for college residency purposes.</p>
<p>Yup. For CA you might not be in-state. However, whether you’re out-of-state or just plain international makes a difference on admissions as well as financial aid. You could still qualify as out-of-state if you have a green card. For private schools, there’s no in-state vs. out-of-state separation -just a national vs. international separation. In this case, you’d need a green card to qualify as national.</p>
<p>btw, i am a permanent resident, and my mom is also permanent. She is the low income situation and have not had any jobs. I’m not sure about the tax things because she never mentions about it. Could this information makes it clearer for you to help me out? :D</p>
<p>For the purpose of admission and financial aid at US colleges and universities, being a US permanent resident is far more favorable than being an international student. Only a few (mainly super-selective) schools offer need-based aid to international students, and most merit scholarships are for US citizens or permanent residents only.</p>
<p>If you have California residency, then you are in a good situation, since UCs and CSUs offer good financial aid to California residents (but poor or none to non-residents), and the community colleges are very low cost for California residents.</p>
<p>See the following for California residency criteria:
<a href=“http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/residence/”>http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/residence/</a>
<a href=“Cal Poly Admissions”>Cal Poly Admissions;
<a href=“http://www.smc.edu/enrollmentdevelopment/admissions/pages/residency-requirements.aspx”>http://www.smc.edu/enrollmentdevelopment/admissions/pages/residency-requirements.aspx</a></p>
<p>You will apply for federal financial aid (Pell grants, direct loans) and aid from California public schools (Cal grants and aid managed by the schools) using the FAFSA form. For many other schools, there are additional financial aid forms to complete (e.g. CSS Profile). You can get financial aid estimates for each college using the net price calculator found on the college’s web site.</p>
<p>You can see UCLA’s frosh admissions profile here:
<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof14.htm”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof14.htm</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/</a></p>
<p>Check out the gray box to the right. You need to be able to answer “yes” to at least one of the questions to qualify as a California resident. </p>
<p>You said you and your mom live in California right now? When did you guys move here? You might qualify for residency under the 12-month rule (question #2 from the gray box). Look: <a href=“UC Legal - Office of the General Counsel | UCOP”>UC Legal - Office of the General Counsel | UCOP; -Go to page 15. The dates are for this past app season, but it seems like all you need is a year before enrolling, not a year before applying! :)</p>
<p>We left Cali since June 2014 (I have to finish 12th Grade to get the highschool diploma in vietnam), but i think i might get the second point in the grey box. We plan to go back to America in July 2015; do you think it might ruin the #2 (since it is more than 12 months)? btw, thank you so much for your helpful information; I appreciate all of that :D. I hope yall have a nice day. :D</p>
<p>^ Oh! I thought you moved from Vietnam to CA, not the other way around…I think you need to graduate from a CA high school. :(</p>
<p>does that mean I am screwed from being a resident (since i will never have highschool in America)? :((</p>
<p>^ Maybe 
You should call the UC office & explain things, see what they tell you…<a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/contact/”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/contact/</a></p>
<p>You might not be able to afford a UC but you’re still a US Permanent Resident. There are cheaper public schools + private colleges which offer great financial aid or merit. However, to be admitted to privates which offer great financial aid (or get merit at those that don’t) you need to work hard to raise your SAT score. Have you tried the ACT?</p>
<p>EDIT: You might not be in-state at any public school, but there are a few that are cheap anyways. How much can you afford? And the test score suggestion still stands, if you want an affordable private. Get the SAT blue book if it’s not much trouble + find some of those free online tutorials.</p>
<p>well my mom said that she could only support me with money for eating and living, and and extra (4k-5k) per year for school tuition. I think i will not do ACT but I’ll apply for SAT2 this October and retake SAT1 in Nov (I’m aiming for a 1k8 since i got 1740 the first time). Do you think i could be an out-state, and the federal aid would help me to afford a UC? Worst case cenerial (ble, idk how to spell this word, sorry :P) I would go to community college near my uncle’s house. Is is easy to transfer to UC (I mean do you have to be really hard-working) because i always dream of being able to have a good education. Sorry for asking you a lot because the <em>Study Abroad service</em> in my place did not know how to help me, and they neglected me.</p>
<p>How much does she mean by eating & living? Room and board (housing + a meal plan) which costs about 10k-15k or an independent apartment + your groceries (a bit cheaper)? Ps: Some colleges will require you to live on campus the 1st year.</p>
<p>UC’s would meet your need -after charging you the 23k/year out-of-state fee. There’s no aid for that, sadly…</p>
<p>It’s fairly easy to transfer to a UC from a CA community college, if you do well. To be in-state afterwards, though, I think your mom would have to live in CA as well & be able to prove that it wasn’t just for college-purposes.</p>
<p>Ideally, you’d want a 2100+ SAT for good scholarships (or admissions to private schools with excellent financial aid). Prepare as much as you can, but if you can’t get your score there, don’t stress about it. The community-college-to-UC route would still get you a UC degree at the end. And don’t feel bad about your current score -half of the UC’s would take it. It’s the money that’s an issue.</p>
<p>It’s okay. Ask as many questions as you want. :)</p>
<p>Ps: You should still call the UC office tomorrow morning -there’s still a chance you could qualify as in-state now.</p>
<p>Ps: I just noticed where I got confused! I misread this ==> “I spent the whole 11 year studying in my home country” and though you had been living in Vietnam the last 11 years. I now see you meant junior year. Sorry!</p>
<p>I will live with my uncle (mom stays in Vietnam to take care of dad), so food and housing fee would be as least as possible, around 5k. (They might not charge me, but I think I have to pay them since it is moral issue). I am not sure about gasoline money, tho. With the 4k extra from mom, I would find a part time job to get to 10k/year (i am not sure since my friend said that job would distract my education, and mom won’t let me; I might find a job without letting mom know). Does the low income case (family with less than 80k per year) would help minimize that must pay 23k. My dad would reach his retirement age at the time I am in college, and mom does not work. I think mom will not live in Cali.
Thanks for helping me out.</p>
<p>^ Ohh okay…Well it might not be my place to say this, but if your uncle doesn’t charge you anything…you might wanna take that offer since you’re on a tight budget. Maybe pay him later, when you graduate & get started on your career?</p>
<p>Jobs: It’s really not recommended to work more than 20 hours per week while you’re in school -there have been studies on this. More than that would take a toll on your academics, health, or both. You can work longer during the summer/breaks, full time if possible to make as much money as you can.</p>
<p>“Does the low income case (family with less than 80k per year) would help minimize that must pay 23k.”</p>
<p>No, sorry…With that income, you would get the rest of the tuition (the other 12k-13k) for free, though.</p>
<p>Are you willing to consider transferring to a CSU instead? </p>
<p>Ps: What’s your major, by the way?</p>
<p>yea, I am hoping for a miracle to happen. Thank you so much.</p>
<p>^ No problem. You might not need a miracle -just some very careful planning.</p>
<p>I think we posted at the same time…Please check my previous post.</p>