I’m an international student from Europe looking to apply to about 15 colleges (mostly private). My family is not poor but not rich either, and I’d prefer to save the almost $2000 in application fees, selecting the “You can provide a supporting statement from a school official, college access counselor, financial aid officer, or community leader” option.
My school counselor has indicated that he can approve my Fee Waiver request. However, my concern was that colleges may look at this negatively if they see my CSS profile, that my family is not poor, but I applied for a fee waiver anyway (they may think that I’m lying about financial circumstances qualifying my family for an application fee waiver). Is this a valid concern? According to CollegeBoard’s EFC Calculator, my EFC is around 10,000.
Very few US colleges give fee waivers to international students. You’re going to have to check with each college. Admissions offices would be buried with applications if they waived everyone’s fees (and they would probably get many more unqualified applicants than they actually do without some serious, thoughtful self-selection happening).
Asking for a fee waiver (for colleges that grant them) will not hurt your chances. Your bigger issue might be that there are only a handful of colleges in the US that are both “need blind” and will “meet full need” for international applicants. Those happen to be among the most competitive colleges in the world. For practical purposes, that means almost every college will either consider your ability to pay as part of the decision whether to admit you, OR they may admit you, but not give you enough of a scholarship to attend (which puts you in the same position as if you had been rejected).
I’d be applying for a Common App fee waiver, which most (if not all) Common App member schools accept. I’m aware that most schools are not need blind for internationals. My question was if it might work against me if they see my finances and think that I’m lying about about my financial circumstances qualifying my family for an application fee waiver. My EFC is 10,000.
No, it won’t count against you. And you can submit for a common app fee waiver, but as an international student, it is up to each college to choose to accept it or not.