<p>We have to send the deposit for college soon, but somehow, I feel uncertain about spending so much money for undergraduate. We moved to this country 15 years ago, all are citizen now. We live on budget, watch what we spend and tried hard to save for the future. I guess most of the American are doing the same.
Our neighbor, move to this country 5 years ago. Only wife and kids live here, husband has two factories in china, rich, i'm sure.
But when I talked to the wife this morning, her D will go to another state university, UVA, and they got almost full ride FA. Why, she told me because they don't have income here in US, and somehow they hire a good account in China, although her husband is the owner of the factories, they don't have to pay for tax here in US.
So, they are low low income here and got full ride to college.
Is this fair?</p>
<p>^ Absolutely not. But can you pay for college?</p>
<p>What is the question the OP is trying to ask? UVA only gives full rides based on merit right?</p>
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<p>NO Chaos…UVA is one of the two public universities in this country that guarantees to meet full need of accepted students NEED BASED AID. UVA does also have some merit awards too. A student with a family contribution of $0 would get essentially a full ride NEED based award.</p>
<p>UVA has a small number of full tuition merit scholarships as well.</p>
<p>To the OP…here is my advice…don’t always believe what neighbors tell you. Sometimes what they say and what really IS are not the same. Really at the end of the day the ONLY financial aid issues you should be concerned with are your own.</p>
<p>I agree fully with Thumper. The green eyed monster can really cause you pains if you listen to all of the stories. You are right. Life is not fair. But those of us who have kids in college here, are getting the good part of the unfairness in this world.</p>
<p>I suspect every where you go, there will be people who cheat on their taxes, cheat on FA (if their country has it !), and people who dont.</p>
<p>Thumper: What’s the other public school that meets need?</p>
<p>UNC-Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>I believe the other public university that meets full need is The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>To OP:</p>
<p>If you are from China, you don’t need to envy your neighbor, even though she may be getting a good deal on FA, since her husband lives in China with 2 factories and he must be rich. </p>
<p>You would know that most likely there is another woman “xiao san” in their live. Her marriage may be falling apart right now. I am not bashing them. This is just a fact and it is very common for the families in such arrangement. </p>
<p>Count your blessing. Don’t worry about others. I doubt you would want to trade positions with her.</p>
<p>Life is not always fair. But when i hear someone show off what they did to get what they don’t deserve to have, I always get angry. I told myself, it’s not my business, I need to focus on my own, how to get enoughtp money for the following four years (at least four years).</p>
<p>*Why, she told me because they don’t have income here in US, and somehow they hire a good account in China, although her husband is the owner of the factories, they don’t have to pay for tax here in US.
So, they are low low income here and got full ride to college.
*</p>
<p>these people are committing fraud. FA doesn’t just ask about income earned in the US. They’re supposed to be reporting the income/assets that they have in China as well. And, if they’re living here, they obviously are receiving money from the H to pay rent/food/etc.</p>
<p>However, this just is another example of how hard it is for American colleges to really know what people are reporting as income/assets from other countries.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that these people must be green card holders here in the US if their child got FA from UVA. It’s a bit odd that they could get residence status and then claim poverty. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get caught somehow in the future.</p>
<p>As others have mentioned, don’t pay much attention to what your neighbor has said…i doubt they told you 100% of the truth…Focus on what you and your family need to do to get your education paid for…best of luck</p>
<p>Would you be envious if they murdered someone, got away with it and have the money from their crime hidden aways as a hidden stash they use? People do get away with criminal acts, you know. Many times. It’s the type of person that breaks rules and cheats that I want to stay away. It’s my choice that I am not that way and I am grateful that my husband and kids are not even if it means we do lose out on some things. We have zero risk of getting into the kind of trouble people who do these things have because we don’t do them.</p>
<p>I know a family in our area who sent kids to the same private school, got substantial aid and is now getting a load of aid from a generous university. They live a beautiful, elegant house in one of the nicest areas here and the place is loaded with expensive, tasteful furniture and decor. They vacation constantly in locales that I only can read and hear about. They have second and third homes, it seems,including a ranch in the west and a farm up north. Their kids drive better cars than I do. They live a very rich life from everything I can see, and my life is pretty danged good; considered rich even by US standards. Yet they get financial aid somehow. But it 's none of my business. There are legitimate explanations as well as illegal ones. This is not my thing in life. Now if I see a clear case of breaking the law with substantial evidence, that is a whole other thing. But suspicions and admissions that can’t be proven are a waste of time to pursue. </p>
<p>Jealousy can eat away at gray cells and your body, make your life and your family’s miserable. Focus on your own options and possibilities.</p>
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<p>I hear you. It’s one thing to suspect, or even to know, that someone has managed to game the system. It’s another to hear them boast about it, like it’s something to be proud of. I love to get a good deal, too, but there’s a difference between buying something on a super-duper sale and using a coupon to make it even a better deal, and out-and-out shoplifting. I’d brag about the first, but I surely wouldn’t brag about the second. (I think of the research I did to match my kid’s attributes with schools that would find them attractive, resulting in a substantial merit scholarship, as akin to getting college education “on sale,” and I do feel like boasting about it, but I restrain myself in public. I would not boast about financial aid fraud.)</p>
<p>Your husband can go back to the old country and find work there, and you can write him and his monies illegally here. That is an option. Not an attractive one, in my opinion. I’d rather have the family all together here and have less money than have DH overseas most of the time, even in a legitimate situation.</p>
<p>Also, if your neighbor is ever audited, there may be some very serious questions about the source of income that is being transferred here to the family so they can live as they do. That can be a problem. Yes, they might get away with this, but there is that risk as there always is when you do something illegal</p>
<p>OP - What goes around comes around, one way or another.</p>
<p>Live your own happy life and sleep well at night knowing you aren’t risking huge fines or a prison sentence for you and your kids.</p>
<p>OP, I’m fighting a little bit of the green-eyed envies myself. While we are struggling with a difficult decision over financing our kid’s education, one of teen’s peers is getting a huge financial aid package to go to his dream school in the same part of country as my kid’s dream school. Not the same school, but similar in many ways. While the peer’s dad makes oodles and oodles of $$$$$ in a professional position, the parents are divorced, and FAFSA only looks at mom’s income. I said all the right things to my kid when we were talking about the situation and didn’t show any malice, but inside I’m growing greener with jealousy by the minute. 
But in my heart, I know life isn’t always fair. I also know that we are doing the best we can for our kid – and that he’ll be fine no matter where he goes.</p>
<p>Most all of us do. Human nature.</p>
<p>Not sure above is correct,as BOTH parents’ income is looked at for FA,not just custodial parent…perhaps they got merit aid?</p>