<p>Hi! </p>
<p>I'm a Chinese HS junior. I've decided to go to universities in the US long time ago, and worked hard for it for a long time, but recently (not really) I heard it's almost impossible for international students to get need-based finaid now. Even some say need-blind from those top schools are fake these days: they do take finaid into admission. Generally, my family have no ability to pay for the tuition and living costs. Maybe at most half of it by asking help from my relatives. I need the aid. </p>
<p>Frankly, I'm quite disappointed. While I'm preparing for the upcoming AP exams which I took 6 courses and learn English so hard, I may in the end rejected because of financial issues. This makes me want to give up going to the US, because I'm not dumb or whatever I can still get to a decent Chinese university(I mean a university that other people feel it's decent. I'm not fond of ANY Chinese university). Anyway but here, I may have to give up.</p>
<p>I think it is a pretty important decisions for my life, so I wish you guys can give me more information about undergrad international student finaid. If you are a intl student who was admitted with FA, please tell me how to make it more likely to be possible. </p>
<p>Thank you!
Michael</p>
<p>It is very difficult for all students, even domestic students, to get the aid that they need for college. Colleges are not some bottomless pit of money to give away. </p>
<p>There are only a small number of colleges that give a LOT of aid to int’l students…of course, those are the very, very hardest to get accepted to.</p>
<p>You’ll be competing against many, many of your fellow Chinese citizens for those few spots. That’s why it can seem impossible. </p>
<p>As for such schools not “really” being need blind, I don’t know. Some are only “need blind” for domestic students.</p>
<p>Before you count on family members to help with half of your college costs, you need to get some kind of firm committment from them to help for 4 years. If they can only help for one year, that won’t help you. </p>
<p>You will need to show that you have all the funds for college before you’re given a visa to come to school here. That includes funds for “personal expenses,” insurance, transportation, etc.</p>
<p>There are some schools that will give int’l students merit scholarships for high stats. You might want to include some of them in your apps. However, it’s unlikely that such scholarships will cover the entire COA, so you would still need to contribute a good bit of money.</p>
<p>You should look for threads on this topic in the International Student Forum. You can find that forum by clicking on “Discussion Home” in the upper-left of this screen, and then scrolling down. Read anything by b@r!um who is one of the resident experts there on financial issues.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>