does International student's merit scholarship includes financial aid?

Student Lounge International Students
1

Hi,

I am an international student and I applied most of the colleges with financial aid (CSS).

I received several acceptance letter with merit scholarship $25K to max $35K.

Does this package include financial aid award?

As far as I know, if you get admitted with FA applied, I thought there’s separate FA award letter than can be renewed every year based on my parents income circumstances.

The thing is my dad’s currently having $250K salary but on mid May, his project finishes. So, he should look for another job. So I really need FA that can be renewed…

2

What is the wording of information about aid in the acceptance letters?

3

Your financial aid for the 2020-2021 academic year was based on your parent incomes from 2018. If there is a difference, you would need to ask for a special circumstances consideration.

With $250,000 income, you likely won’t be eligible for need based aid at all…so it’s good you got some merit aid.

Are any of these colleges affordable?

4

I checked with the college counselor and they said the merit scholarship package considered my financial status. So I guess there’s no extra FA.

Luckily, one of the liberal arts college ranked 40s offered me 42K merit. So i need to ask my parents around 23K!

The thing is I am waiting the results for the top liberal arts colleges. If by any chance I get accepted to the better ones, it is likely that I would not receive any merit scholarship.

So I am just hoping that each college consider my family’s financial status so that I can have FA.

5

[quote]
So I am just hoping that each college consider my family’s financial status[.quote]

They will. That’s why you won’t get FA this year. The fact that your family’s income might change this year, doesn’t change what it was last year & is right now.

With an income of $250K, you don’t qualify - even at the most generous places - for need-based aid.

6

The financial aid award letter typically lists your:
-merit aid
-loans,
-grants
-scholarships.
Your current income level exceeds what most American families make, so you won’t be getting need-based aid.
Additionally, need-based aid, is often awarded by federal and state governments. Since you are not a citizen, you are not eligible for that taxpayer aid.