<p>I have a dilemma on a financial aid application that is much similar to the CSS Profile. </p>
<p>So my mother has been residing in the US for the past 7 years. She has been a full time international student at three different institutions. She completed two MBAs and now is in a different program. After one school, she started another, therefore keeping her visa status. While all this, she has also been working full time at a company.</p>
<p>On the financial aid application, it asks me what my visa status is and what my mother's is. I have listed my mother as a student and me as a dependent of a student. The application also asks about what school my mother studies at, what year she is, where she works, and how long she has been working there. When I put down the information honestly, it will be clear that my mother's situation is not legal as international students in the United States are not permitted to work full time. Will this risk my chance of getting into colleges?</p>
<p>If I was to lie and say that my mother has been working only part time, will they find out?</p>
<p>I am lost as to what to do. Any comments/suggestions is deeply appreciated!</p>
<p>If I get it right, your mother is studying AND working at the same time with only a student visa. If this is the case, you have several options (if that’s not the case, please disregard my entire post):
You might be tempted to lie on your CSS form about her status otherwise they might find out and get you and your mother in serious trouble. However, if you lie on your CSS form and they find out that you lied to them, <em>you</em> will get in serious trouble and you can easily end up without financial aid or you may be forced to pay everything back to the college. </p>
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<li>I am pretty sure that there would be no problem if you told them the truth. These people are financial aid officers and not immigration officers, and their only goal is to find out more about Your REAL financial situation. So, maybe it would be better (and of course this would be the honest and obvious way to go) to tell them what’s up so that at least they will know. I doubt that they would care about your mother’s visa status…it’s about you not her. CSS is not for screening relatives but for checking financial background…and even if they somehow found it out, I don’t think it would affect your admission as it’s not you but your mother…</li>
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<p>So, I think you’d better just tell the truth. However, I still don’t get how it is possible for her. I mean, she is obviously a legal student but she must also be paying taxes after her earning in the full time position. How’s that possible with a student visa?..On the other hand, if she is not paying taxes and she is employed illegally than why would you wanna tell this in your CSS form?
I hope my points are clear enough…but please be aware that it’s just what I think and I’m really not sure about any of this…</p>
<p>I agree, you will not get rejected because of this, don’t worry:) I’m pretty sure colleges would never reject someone because of the status of their parents; not even if both of the applicant’s parents were serial killers. This fact has nothing to do with the person applying.</p>