<p>I will be applying to Stanford this Nov in EA. It is need-AWARE for international students (I am from India). Family income is super low so can't afford it. But I can take loan of up to $50K from bank and/or relatives. Here is the dillema:</p>
<p>I don't want Stanford to reject my application just because I need full-ride. I want them to know that if they are not able to offer scholarship then I will take loans and fund the remaining part myself. I don't want them to reject my application because of this.</p>
<p>Is there a way to say this in the application?</p>
<p>I have never looked at the application; so I have no idea.</p>
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In the Common Application:
Good luck!</p>
<p>You certainly can put it in there. But it would be crazy to borrow the full cost. It sounds like you are saying you could take a total in loans of $50K. That might get you through one year… what about the other years?</p>
<p>Need-aware does not automatically mean that you won’t be admitted because of your need. If you are a truly good applicant that Stanford really wants, they will find the money. If you are a borderline applicant that they don’t really care so much about, you may be rejected in favor of a borderline applicant who needs less aid.</p>
<p>Apply for the aid. If Stanford doesn’t want you enough to give you the aid you need, you don’t want Stanford. </p>
<p>Admission is a crap shoot at Stanford for even the strongest candidates. There is no guarantee you will get accepted even as a full pay student. The very vast majority get rejected.</p>
<p>Apply for admission, and for financial aid as well. Borrowing $50,000 plus a year to go to college is insane.</p>
<p>Stanford is NOT worth 200k in debt…not worth 100k in debt.</p>
<p>what is your major and what are your stats?</p>
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<p>ha! how much do you think you will be earning upon graduation? </p>
<p>and where will you be working? you cant likely work in the US. and many/most high-tech companies here wont hire intls. you wont even be able to get most internships or co-ops here. </p>
<p>If you got a job here somehow, your pay would be lower because that is what happens to those who cant qualify for the jobs that require citizenship.</p>
<p>you have no idea how hard it is to pay back that much. do you know how much the payments would be?</p>
<p>A loan-laden degree from Stanford for computer science is sooooooooo unnecessary. what magic do you think you’d learn THERE that you wouldnt learn at the many good schools that have CS? lol</p>
<p>edited to add…</p>
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<p>forget S (which isnt an ivy, BTW)…you are from India…the other Indian applicants will have perfect/near-perfect SATs</p>
<p>Well…you loan payments would well exceed $2000 a month on a ten year payment plan. Is that really what you want?</p>
<p>Also, while you might qualify for a loan for one year, will you qualify for all FOUR years? You (the student) don’t have any collateral. Your parents are low income. Who is going to lend you this amount of money every year?</p>
<p>If Stanford uses PROFILE there is a specific question there that asks whether you have other options for the money. So if you can get your hands on the money, you are supposed to so say and these schools will take that into consideration. You can’t have it both ways. You either can or can’t get the money. The only thing you can do is basically get a list of school, say 10 of them and apply to 5 as need aware and 5 as non need aware. That will give you some idea of how your need is affecting your admissions. THe thing is, with schools like Stanford, need or not, the chances of admissions are so very, very low. Look at the numbers for US admits or overall, and you can see that it’s not like even being no need is going to give you some big edge when the numbers are that bad. </p>
<p>The other thing is to ask them if you are entitled to aid future years if you apply as an international no need student. That way, you can get see if you can get in, borrow the first year and apply for need in future years. Schools that are need aware usually close that window by making students sit out for future years if they did not apply for need the first year, or show that the need in future years was something that came up by requiring financial info for both the entry year and the year the student asks for aid, or they simply do not guarantee, nor meet full need for international students that do not ask for need that first year.</p>
<p>Be aware that by borrowing the money, depending on the terms, you can be putting you and your family at great risk. This should not be looked upon as an investment. A lot of things can happen to prevent you from repaying that loan. You are just focused on one thing and people doing that don’t tend to take enough consideration on other factors, like what if you die, become disabled, can’t borrow the money for future years, flunk out can’t get the work you think you will. All of these things happen in significant numbers each year to to kids. I personally have a close friend who is financially ruined and her DD is also in a lot of financial trouble because they cannot pay back the student loans they took, cosigned. There are some limits to retribution as these are US government loans, but even so the consequences are dire. You had better look long and hard about what will happen if your parents and you end up welching on the loans. Usually when a family has been unable to save, is unable to pay for at least 2/3 of the costs (past, present income to be used), it does not look good for future use of payment, namely loans. Not good at all.</p>
<p>The 2014-2015 budget for a Stanford undergraduate is $62,801, not including travel expenses.
It’s time to make a list of other possibilities, because it would be unfortunate to waste your early application on a choice that is unlikely to work.</p>