Dear International Students Seeking Financial Aid: YOU CAN DO IT!

Senior, your enthusiasm is wonderful and congrats on your terrific admissions results.

To the rest of the world reading this- you need a back up plan. The probability that you will be admitted to a college in the US with enough aid to attend is very, very small. You should go in to the process with both eyes open, and recognize that if you want a university education, you need an option in your home country in addition to whatever international aspirations you might have.

The pot of money is finite. The number of colleges which will admit you without regard to your family’s finances is very small AND those colleges are highly competitive anyway, even without the financial angle. And most of the colleges in the US which are happy to have foreign students and will accept you, are going to give you a small amount of aid which your family is going to find highly inadequate once travel costs, health insurance, etc. are factored in. You cannot land at an airport in the US with a student visa and “figure out the financing” once you get here. You won’t be getting that visa unless you can demonstrate how you are paying for your degree.

So sure- let’s celebrate with the OP. But everyone else- you need a backup plan.