<p>Because if I get accepted to a top private college and I don't qualify because I'm not a citizen. And my parents won't be able to pay for anything. Then I will be Very ... off.</p>
<p>It depends on the school. You will need to check each school. The policies on awarding financial aid to international students varies by school. Regardless...you would not be eligible for federally funded aid because that is for citizens only, I believe. What you would be looking for is institutional aid. Check each school's financial aid website to find out.</p>
<p>I will say...there are schools which award money to international students, there are schools that do not award money at all to international students, AND there are schools that have a different formula for computing aid for international students.</p>
<p>Are you in the US as a permanent resident? That would make a difference. If not, and you are actually out of the country, then it depends on the school (and it would be institutional financial aid, only; no federal loans/grants).</p>
<p>Sense of entitlement much?</p>
<p>If your parents can't pay for any of your education, there are very few places that you probably can afford to go to other than community colleges or any local public universities that you can pay for on your own while commuting from home.</p>
<p>To my knowledge, all of the schools offering to meet full need of internationals are places like Ivies (not sure all of the Ivies do either) that are among the most competitive universities in the country to gain entrance to. It's harder for internationals to gain acceptance to those highly competitive schools than it is for U.S. citizens.</p>
<p>Before you waste your time applying to colleges that will not give you aid, take the time to thoroughly review their financial aid web pages.</p>
<p>Federal financial aid is available to US Citizens and certain eligible non-citizens. You can call the FAFSA technical support line and explain yoru immigration status to them. They will be able to determine whether you are considered to be an eligible non-citizen.</p>
<p>Even the most generous schools expect students to contribute something to the cost of their education such as working a job during the summer and/or school year and/or taking out loans.</p>
<p>For federal aid and most college institutional aid, permanent residents are treated the same as citizens.</p>
<p>The answers for your question would be entirely different depending on whether you have a green card. If you do, you apply similarly as a citizen; if you don't, then you would be ineligible for federal/state grants, and for institutional aid, it would depend on the individual college policy.</p>
<p>U.S. Federal Aid goes to U.S. citizens and Permanent Residents only. Thus, when a non-citizen or non-Permanent Resident is applying for financial aid, the bar is usually set FAR higher than it would be for citizens/Permanent Residents because the college must provide the funds from its own coffers. However, a couple of exceptions I've encountered:</p>
<p>-A few colleges do not consider Canandian students to be Internationals</p>
<p>-Several years ago, one top LAC finaid official (I think it was at Wellesley, but I wouldn't swear) said that they consider students with an Alien Registration Number to be the same as Green Card holders, even if the Green Card hasn't yet arrived. (At other colleges, however, claims that "the Green Card is due any day now" will fall on deaf ears because there are too many times when "imminent" Green Cards don't arrive on schedule.)</p>
<p>International students hoping for institutional financial aid (i.e., the $$ that the colleges themselves provide) tend to have the best chances if:</p>
<p>-Their profile (grades, test scores, misc. other accomplishments) is exceptional when compared with that college's typical student</p>
<p>-They come from a nation that is not already well represented in that school's student body (so usually NOT India, China, Korea, though it depends on the college)</p>
<p>-They actually live in their home nation rather than in the U.S.</p>
<p>Students with two or more of these factors generally stand a better chance of aid than those with one or fewer. But, in all cases, aid to internationals is very tough to come by. Unfortunately, many highly qualified applicants are turned away.</p>
<p>Do note that, although it's only some Ivies and a handful of "elite" colleges that are "need-blind" for internationals, there are some schools that are not so well known that do offer excellent aid for internationals, or at least for a select few.</p>
<p>
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if I get accepted to a top private college
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if "top" means Ivies+Stanford, MIT, Duke and the like, 100% of your need will be met. The only thing is that most of these schools are harder for internationals who ask for aid to get admitted.</p>