<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm an international student and I am going to apply for financial aid the colleges I apply to. Now, most colleges have their own financial aid form, so do I need to complete the CSS profile in order to get financial aid?</p>
<p>If the college requires the CSS form for financial aid for international students, I think you have to fill it out.</p>
<p>You need to fill out whatever forms the college requires…which may mean CSS Profile and any other forms that the college requires.</p>
<p>The colleges can’t just guess what your need is. THEY determine what your need is after looking at all the details of your family’s income and assets. The family doesn’t get to decide what its need is…the school does.</p>
<p>Btw,</p>
<p>Will it affect my admission, if my financial need is very high?</p>
<p>At many schools that will give a lot of FA to international students, they have a “need aware” policy. So, yes, that can affect your admission at many schools that meet need.</p>
<p>How much will your family pay each year? and, what are your stats and where will you be applying.</p>
<p>My family can pay approx. $18000.
So I would need around $35-40000 financial aid</p>
<p>I will give my SAT this Oct. But I’ve been doing lot of practice tests and on average my scores are something like, CR:650, Wr:700, Math:700+</p>
<p>And, my performance in school is above average (close to very good)</p>
<p>I’m worried about the essays though. The ones I wrote do not seem so convincing.</p>
<p>So I guess that’s all.</p>
<p>Where will you be applying?</p>
<p>Your stats need to “near perfect” to be a strong contender at schools like Harvard that give generous aid to international students.</p>
<p>Also, your “need” is determined by the school, not by your parents. The school may look at your family’s assets and think your family should pay a lot more. </p>
<p>Also take the ACT. You might do better on that. You can take that in Sept.</p>
<p>I’m going to apply to 19 universities (in order of priority)
MIT
Stanford
Caltech
Cornell
Tufts
Columbia U
Princeton
Harvard
U Penn
Duke
Brown U
Dartmouth
Swarthmore
Harvey Mudd
Lafayette C
Johns Hopkins
Rice U
Northwestern
Lehigh U</p>
<p>Some/most of those schools are “need-aware” for international students. </p>
<p>If your SAT is not super high, then I don’t think your chances will be good at the “need aware” schools since you have highish need (needing about $150,000 for college - not many schools are going to provide that much money.)</p>
<p>Are you from an unusual country? If so, that sometimes helps.</p>
<p>What are your financial safety schools?</p>
<p>I am from Bangladesh</p>
<p>Financial safety schools:
Vassar
Bates
Colgate
Bryn Mawr
Union
Reed
Wabash
Lawrence institute of technology
Middlebury</p>
<p>But I haven’t finalized the colleges. Probably I will apply to around 15 of my 1st choice colleges and 5 or 6 financial safety colleges.</p>
<p>Btw, even though my SAT I scores might end up between 2000-2100, I am positive that I can get over 2200 in my SAT II (Maths 2, physics & chem)</p>
<p>I don’t think you can call those schools your “financial safety schools”.</p>
<p>A financial safety school is a school that you are certain that you’ll get accepted to AND you KNOW will be affordable. At this point, you can’t be sure that any of these schools will be affordable. Can you?</p>
<p>DonaldX, are you a male? Because of your screenname, I’m just wondering. If you are you should know that Bryn Mawr is a women’s college.</p>
<p>Donald, a financial safety is a school you can afford to attend without financial aid. I don’t think ANY of those schools are going to cost $18K/year or less!</p>
<p>@ rentof, Sorry I didnt do my research properly.</p>
<p>@ sk8rmom, well sorry again for not doing my research properly. I went through my options and came up with the following
Atlantic Union College
Louisiana Tech University
Florida International University
Northern Illinois University</p>
<p>Suggestions would help</p>
<p>Atlantic Union College $37K per year
Louisiana Tech University $19K per year (I think)
Florida International University $30K per year
Northern Illinois University $31K per year</p>
<p>I’ve filled in the costs of attendance at your financial safeties…Louisiana Tech sounds doable (I hope I got that one right)…the others are still more than you say you can spend. Do you have a way to make up the difference in the costs?</p>
<p>Hopefully you’ll do well on your SATs and you can apply to a couple of schools that will give int’ls big merit scholarships. Those can also be your financial safety schools.</p>