FAFSA - US Citizen Living Abroad

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I have a daughter who is a US citizen living with me in Oman. I'm an Indian citizen, have a US Social Security # but not worked in the US for over 15 yrs. While my daughter plans to go US to do her undergraduate degree in Chem Engg studies, I'm looking for a financial aid to cover her tuition and living cost. I need advise on various financial aids available for making her dream education come true.</p>

<p>1) Is she eligible for applying to FAFSA aid ?</p>

<p>2) I have not paid US Income tax for 15+ yrs. So do not have W-2 form or IRS return forms to prove my income. So what should I mention in the income block and how should I prove it ? </p>

<p>3) What income is considered not fit for FAFSA aid ? How does overseas income compare with US income for aid ?</p>

<p>4) How should I increase the chances of getting FAFSA aid ?</p>

<p>5) I presume she will be considered out-off state in her first year of college. Does this affect FAFSA aid decision ?</p>

<p>Will appreciate your feedback</p>

2

<p>* I’m looking for a financial aid to cover her tuition and living cost. I*</p>

<p>Your daughter is eligible to apply for aid. Whether she gets much/anything will depend on the FAMILY income. If you’re married, then your H’s income/assets count as well…even if he’s a stepfather. </p>

<p>Every American can file FAFSA, there is no income limit. However, most people do NOT get “free money” from the federal gov’t. Most just get LOANS.</p>

<p>Federal aid is NOT much money. It will NOT cover tuition and living costs. If you’re VERY low income, then she’d get a $5550 grant (see, not much money) and a $5500 loan. Since your D is a nonresident of any state school, she’d have to either pay high OOS costs if she goes to a public univ (like UMichigan or UIUC or Penn State).</p>

<p>She will be OOS for all FOUR years unless YOU move to the same state. So, the cost to attend college for HER will likely be $30k-60k per year…plus international travel.</p>

<p>I don’t know how you will prove your income, but you’ll likely have to do it or you won’t get aid. </p>

<p>Some colleges (not most) have their own aid to give. If your D gets accepted to one of those schools, then she might get more aid…if you can prove your income. </p>

<p>Since it sounds like you can’t prove your income, then maybe your D needs to look at schools that will give her merit scholarships for her stats.</p>

<p>How much can YOU pay each year? If not much, then that will be a problem if you can’t prove your income/assets/etc.</p>

<p>What about her father? The top schools that give the best aid will insist on seeing his income as well.</p>

<p>Be aware that being a US citizen does NOT mean that there’s some fund out there that pays for all college costs. MOST American kids have to commute to their local CC or state school because that’s all that they can afford. Going away to school is a LUXURY and tax-payers aren’t going to pay for that.</p>

3

<p>FAFSA does not award money. It is an application used to determine eligibility for federal grants, and to award federal loans. Some universities also use this information when deciding need based aid from their own funds… although many will also require the CSS profile or their own form for school offered aid.</p>

<p>There are others on here that can answer most of your questions far better than I… but basically, once your daughter and you fill out the FAFSA she will be eligible to take out a $5500 loan for her freshman year. Depending on your family’s EFC she may also be eligible for up to a $5500 federal grant. If your daughter is independent (this is very difficult to achieve for more students under the age of 24… there are very specific criteria used to determine independent status) or you apply for a Parent PLUS loan and are denied (I am not sure if foreign nationals can apply for Parent PLUS loans, however) your D will be eligible for another $4000 in loans for freshman year.</p>

<p>The cost of the school does not factor in to the amount of money in grant and loans offered to the student by the federal government. </p>

<p>In terms of in-state/ out of state tuition at state universities residency requirements will vary. Often, schools use the parents residence for the purpose of determining residency. Even schools that will use the student’s residence often require that the student be completely self supporting and not have moved to the state solely for the purpose of attending school. Some schools are a bit more lenient… particularly Community Colleges… however, just because a student is in-state for tuition purposes at a Community College does not automatically mean they will be when they transfer to a four year university. </p>

<p>X-posted with Mom2K</p>

<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>

4

<p>If you have a US SS# then you are most likely a permenent resident. If so, you should have filed U.S. income tax returns even if you had no U.S. income. If that is the case, you should file one for 2011. Then your daughter can file the FAFSA. Is she starting in 2012? If so, you can file a return for 2012 when it is time and use that for the FAFSA.</p>

5

<p>You will file the FAFSA and any other financial aid forms with your figures for your income and assets converted to USD at the exchange of the day of filing. Most of the lines on the FAFSA are based on the US Federal tax returns, but if you read through the instructions carefully, you should be able to figure out what income sources belong on those lines. Print out the paper version of the formula, and take a look at it: <a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/2012-13-efc-forumula.pdf[/url]”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/2012-13-efc-forumula.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If you have had permanent legal resident status in the past, but you have not lived in the US for several years and have not done anything in particular to retain that status, you may have lost it. If you still have it, you could contact the IRS about what to do about sorting out your tax situation. There is a special link for US citizens abroad that might apply to you as well: [IRS</a> Announces Efforts to Help U. S. Citizens Overseas Including Dual Citizens and Those with Foreign Retirement Plans](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=258431,00.html?portlet=108]IRS”>http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=258431,00.html?portlet=108)</p>

<p>One good resource for you and your daughter is the EducationUSA office in Oman: [EducationUSA</a> - Center Profile - EducationUSA Advising Center](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/Muscat]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/Muscat) If none of the counselors there have worked with a US citizen lately, they have colleagues in other countries who have. </p>

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

6

<p>Thank you all for your quick responses. </p>

<p>Just to clarify I was never a Permanent Resident although I had a SS # which was used along with my H1 visa when I worked in US. Not sure if filing the IRS return for 2011 and 2012 may be effective for the FAFSA app since i was not a PR.</p>

<p>Since FAFSA need an income proof to qualify my D for aid/grant, any idea which document will suffice as a proof of income. My D is a dependent and my EFC could be $ 10 - 15K per year. I’m hoping to get $20 - 25K in aid.</p>

<p>How should I proceed ?</p>

7

<p>Like happymom said, EducationUSA is a good resource for questions about things like this.</p>

<p>As other people have said, though, the FAFSA itself doesn’t give any aid, and most financial aid you can get comes in the form of loans. If you need 20-25k in grants to comfortably pay, she needs to look for schools that will give her large academic scholarships.</p>

8

<p>*Thank you all for your quick responses. </p>

<p>Just to clarify I was never a Permanent Resident although I had a SS # which was used along with my H1 visa when I worked in US. Not sure if filing the IRS return for 2011 and 2012 may be effective for the FAFSA app since i was not a PR.</p>

<p>Since FAFSA need an income proof to qualify my D for aid/grant, any idea which document will suffice as a proof of income. My D is a dependent and my EFC could be $ 10 - 15K per year. I’m hoping to get $20 - 25K in aid.</p>

<p>How should I proceed ?*</p>

<p>So, can you pay $10k-15k per year? You’d also have to additionally pay for int’l travel since that’s not part of COA. That could be another $2k+ per year depending if she comes home mid-year or not. </p>

<p>You’re not going to get $20k-25k in federal aid. Federal aid is for MUCH less, and can be mostly LOANS.</p>

<p>Since your EFC will be far beyond federal grants (must be below $5k), then all you’ll get from the federal gov’t is a $5500 loan and maybe some work-study of $2k. That’s only about $7500. </p>

<p>I think you’re misunderstanding financial aid. Federal aid isn’t much. There is NO INTENT on the federal gov’t to pay for kids to go away to college. The small aid that is available is to help pay for a student to commute to their local state school. </p>

<p>Frankly, I’m a little shocked that someone who hasn’t paid a dime in ANY taxes for anything here in the US (no income taxes, no property taxes, no sales taxes, zip, nada, nothing) is expecting $80k-100k in aid after filling out a Federal form. At least the low income in the US still are paying sales taxes, gas taxes, etc. You’ve paid NOTHING for 15 years. (Boy, does FAFSA need to change or what???!!)</p>

<p>You’re expecting $80k-100k in aid for your child to go to college. You might get that at a wealthy private university or from a school that awards merit scholarships. But, the federal gov’t isn’t going to give your child $80k-100k for college. </p>

<p>but, NO school will give you a dime of need-based aid if you can’t verify your income. If that’s going to be a problem, then your D needs to look for full-tuition merit scholarships so that your $15k can pay for room, board, books, etc. </p>

<p>The federal gov’t cannot provide aid for millions of American kids to go away to college.</p>

<p>If your EFC is - say - $15k, and you’re hoping for $20k in aid, then WHAT schools are you considering? That’s only $35k per year. Is your D only looking at some cheaper publics? </p>

<p>Private univs will cost about $50k-60k per year. </p>

<p>Publics like Berkeley and UMich will cost $50k per year.</p>

<p>UIUC and Purdue will cost about $40k per year </p>

<p>(plus int’l travel for the above)</p>

<p>Before your D gets her hopes up too high, what schools is she interested in?</p>

<p>Does your D have a non-custodial parent?</p>

<p>What is her major?</p>

<p>What are her test scores (including SAT breakdown)?</p>

<p>What is her GPA?</p>

<p>What schools are you looking at?</p>

9

<p>The colleges that use only the FAFSA do NOT guarantee to meet the full need of ALL accepted students. If you think your family contribution per FAFSA is over $5400, your daughter will not be be eligible for the Pell grant at all. She will be able to take out a $5500 direct loan for her freshman year. </p>

<p>As others have noted, your daughter would be considered an OOS resident at ALL public universities in the U.S. for all four years, not just the first year.</p>

<p>Many of the more generous and competitive colleges also use the CSS Profile to determine awarding of need based aid. You would need to be able to somehow verify your actual income…maybe with bank deposit records, or some other record of what you earned.</p>

10

<p>What sort of school is she attending? If they send a sizable number of their graduates to the US for college, the guidance office there should be able to tell her where students with her profile have been admitted in recent years, and whether or not they received any merit-based aid. </p>

<p>Since you were in the US with an H1, there is no need to file a US tax return now that you are out of the country. There are many families in your situation, and colleges/universities are used to receiving applications from them. It really is OK to just email the financial aid offices at a couple of your daughter’s target institutions and ask for their advice about organizing your numbers for the FAFSA. If hard documentation would be required at some time in the future, the colleges/universities involved will tell you what they need to see.</p>

<p>You do need to determine what you actually can afford to pay. Your EFC may be higher or lower than that figure. Your daughter can borrow federal/stafford loans each year ($5,500 freshman, $6,500 sophomore, $7,500 junior, $7,500 senior), and she can get a job during the school year and in the summer. If you can pay $10,000 each year, with her loans and her own income, there are a few places that might be affordable. Have her run the college-matching search engines using $10,000 for the out-of-state maximum for tuition and fees (the search engines don’t search by Cost of Attendance), and see what turns up.</p>

<p>Some public colleges and universities do not have different tuition and fees for out-of-state students, and some are more flexible than others about allowing students to establish residence on their own. Most often this requires that the student provide more than 50% of his/her own support for one year, and that they live in that state for one year before enrolling in classes. These policies do vary widely and wildly not only between states but also between the various institutions within a state. For example, our local community college considers a student in-state with only three months physical residence, but they do insist on 51% self-support for 12 months.</p>

11

<p>Search some of the threads on this board looking for schools with large merit awards, I have heard University of Alabama gives a full ride to high scorers. If her GPA & SATs are high enough, she can get merit awards at many small private schools.</p>

12

<p>A few points:
I think you should look for merit-base financial aid first. Is your D going to the international school at Oman? The people in the schools might have some suggestions.</p>

<p>Do you have any relatives or friends in US? Your D could come here to live with them long enough to establish a residency in US.</p>

<p>Your D could attend a community college for a semester or a year, again to establish a residency in US.</p>

<p>Once your D establish residency in US, she should has more options in financial aid.</p>

13

<p>When you’re this girl’s age, residency is typically where parents live.</p>

<p>She can’t just move in with relatives and establish residency…especially when her FAFSA will show that her parents live elsewhere.</p>

<p>It’s NOT a good idea to go to a CC or just any old school first and then hope for FA when you transfer. Transfers get the worst aid and merit scholarships.</p>

<p>Unless this student can luckily get admitted to an elite school that meets need and doesn’t require the parents to pay more than $10-15k per year, it’s likely that either the parents will have to pay a lot more, or the student will need to apply where her stats will get huge merit scholarships.</p>

14

<p>4kids…I’m not sure where you are getting your info. This student can NOT establish residency by living with friends or relatives who are not her parents. In the very vast majority of cases, the residency of the undergrad student is the domicile of the PARENTS of that student.</p>

15

<p>Please correct me if I am wrong:</p>

<p>I thought once you’re 18, you become an adult.</p>

<p>If you have less than 24 college credit hours, you may still considered as a freshman applicant.</p>

16

<p>4kidsdad -</p>

<p>For financial aid purposes, most students are considered dependent until they are 24. Most public colleges and universities consider that the parents physical residence is the student’s residence of record. Some colleges and universities will consider a student with one credit earned after high school graduation to be a transfer student. Some will consider a student with one credit less than a full year of college credits (e.g… 29 semester hours instead of 30 semester hours) to be a freshman applicant.</p>

<p>However there are exceptions to every single one of these, so it is absolutely necessary that the student and his/her family spend some time doing the research on issues that matter to them.</p>

17

<p>First, for financial aid purposes, students are considered dependents of their parents until age 24. If the undergrad student is married, is a veteran, supports their minor child, is an orphan, was ever a ward of the state, or has a bachelors degree they would be considered independent for financial aid purposes.</p>

<p>Second…if a student is transferring college credits from another college, they would be considered a TRANSFER student, not a first time incoming freshman. Even if the student doesn’t WANT to transfer those credits, he/she would still be required to include them on any college application…and would be considered a transfer student, not a first time incoming freshman.</p>

18

<p>Many schools will NOT consider you an incoming freshman for FA or merit purposes if you’ve taken ANY college classes after high school. </p>

<p>The fact that you may still have “freshman status” because of credits, is NOT the same as being an incoming freshman which gets the best aid and merit.</p>

<p>As for being 18…The college system has to depend on the idea that parents are first in line to pay. If 18 year olds could be considered independent for aid and residency purposes, then all the kids would move to Calif, Virginia and North Carolina and grab a ton of aid as “independent residents” …lol…so, no, the system won’t allow that.</p>

19

<p>CA Residency:
[UCSC</a> General Catalog 2011-12 - Appendixes](<a href=“http://reg.ucsc.edu/catalog/html/appendixes.html]UCSC”>http://reg.ucsc.edu/catalog/html/appendixes.html)</p>

<p>However, you should not use the information on my postings as a legal opinion and your are encouraged to consult your personal legal advisor.</p>

20

<p>From College Board:
[Guide</a> to State Residency](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/international/state/#live_abroad]Guide”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/international/state/#live_abroad)</p>

<p>U.S. citizens currently living abroad who seek admission to a public university in a state where their family has existing ties may be eligible for in-state tuition. If the student and/or student’s family own real property in that state, are registered to vote there, file a resident income tax return, hold a state driver’s license or motor vehicle registration, and can demonstrate prior residence of at least 12 months, he or she may qualify for state residency for tuition purposes. Such cases are determined individually. </p>

<p>Again, you should not use the information on my postings as a legal opinion and your are encouraged to consult your personal legal advisor.</p>