International students are required by most institutions to submit the ISCF (International Students Certificate of Finances). Its main objective is to determine whether the student can afford the whole 4 years’ tuition/fees.
But some of them offer generous merit scholarships (to international students) that can significantly reduce the tuition. There are many schools that I can’t afford their “sticker price” but can afford if I get one of their merit scholarships.
In such cases, will I be outright rejected if my ISCF indicates that I can’t afford the tuition/fees?
There is no universal answer to your question as it depends on the school.
@momofsenior1 So I assume for some schools the answer will be a yes but for some it will be a no. That still helps. Thanks!
That would be a correct assumption.
@skieurope will correct me if I’m wrong…
You will still need to provide documentation that you have sufficient funds to pay for at least one year of your schooling here in order to get a visa to study here. This can include already received school based aid, and already approved loans.
@thumper1 is correct, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. The applicant needs to be admitted to a college first, before said college will issue a Form I-20. My initial response was focused on whether a college a college will reject an applicant based solely on inability to pay. And that answer is “it depends.”
Currently, there are only 5 colleges in the country that are both need blind and will meet 100% of demonstrated need to international students.
For most schools in the U.S. the ability to pay is a factor in the admissions process. So even if one is eligible for merit scholarships, they will have to demonstrate financially that they can pay the rest of the bill.
I would think that the finances are being looked at when merit is offered to determine whether or not it will make an appreciable difference. If the COA is $70k and the student needs $70k to attend, even if the school says the student meets the requirements for a 25k scholarship, I still think that this student would be rejected because they do not have the means to pay the remaining $45K and the school does not have it to give.
Lots of schools will accept you, but then gap you (international or not). They won’t give you enough of any kind of aid to cover your need.
On the contrary, I think that the vast majority of colleges in the U.S. are need blind, and those that don’t meet full need simply practice what is known as “admit-deny,” which is admitting an academically qualified applicant, even if the college reasonably believes that the applicant doesn’t have and has not been offered the financial resources to attend.
There are approximately 2500 4-year colleges/universities in the US, and <70 are need-blind for first-year applicants with US citizenship or green card. So definitely not “vast majority.” The number of colleges that are need-blind for international applicants is much smaller. And not all colleges that are need-blind or need-aware will meet full demonstrated need.
Mea culpa; change “vast” to “significant.”
I agree and would not have posted if it was clear that the statement was referring only to international applicants.
Obviously.
“Lots of schools will accept you, but then gap you (international or not). They won’t give you enough of any kind of aid to cover your need.”
@intparent, I believe this is true. However, wouldn’t that lower their very important yield statistics? Or are you talking about colleges where that is hardly an issue (like those that accept 80%+ of their students anyway)? It would make some sense to admit-deny some American students because their parents might possibly cosign loans to pay the difference. International students, however, can’t get loans from American banks and they probably have extremely restricted lending options from their own country’s banks. So, for top 200 or 300 schools (both LAC and University) except in few very exceptional cases, admit-deny doesn’t make sense in terms of yield protection.
“Currently, there are only 5 colleges in the country that are both need blind and will meet 100% of demonstrated need to international students.”
Those five should be listed in a post pinned at the top of the International Students boards!
According to Wikipedia:
Amherst College
Curtis Institute of Music
Harvard College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Minerva Schools at KGI
Princeton University
Yale University
Curtis provides full tuition scholarships…to every accepted student. Acceptance is for musicians by audition only. I am not positive they cover the full amount of room/board/personal expenses (for musicians these can be high costs…instruments, music, clothing, etc).
The schools listed by @BelknapPoint have VERY low acceptance rates for international students…in the single digits.
I think the bottom line for the OP is that he or she needs to have a plan for funding college. This can include financial aid from the colleges, and approved loans.
Acceptance isn’t going to do this student a speck of good without a funding plan.