Financial Aid for International!

Paying for College
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<p>Hey all!</p>

<p>I applied to schools for RD. My only concern is the finances for my education in US as an international. I applied for financial aid. How generous are US colleges in providing aid to international students? That's my biggest concern now - finances.</p>

<p>Basically my parents have a yearly income of US$50k a year. and my mom is retiring in 2 years (she's 56yrs old) and my dad is a retiree doing his own business (65years old). I can post up other details if needed like my statistics, my essays and other things if needed. I just need some suggestions or assurance from you all regarding this. </p>

<p>btw my school lists are: Lehigh, Lafayette, Macalester, Colorado College, Wooster, Kalamazoo, Williams, Northwestern, Upenn, Princeton and Harvard.</p>

<p>Its a spread of safeties and reach schools, but i know when it comes to heavy financial aid need, no school is a safety. so please voice out some opinions. :)</p>

<p>Good luck to all of you. =D</p>

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<p>From other threads, I know Harvard, Williams, and Princeton are need-blind admissions. I’m not sure about UPenn though. Your parents have quite a high income, that’s gonna hurt your financial aid a lot too.</p>

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<p>First…need blind for admissions has little to do with financial aid. However, I do believe Harvard, Williams, and Princeton are not only need blind for admissions but ALSO meet full need for international students. </p>

<p>The above poster indicates that $50,000 is “quite a high income”. In fact, that is NOT quite a HIGH income. If this student were to get accepted at Harvard…he would pay NOTHING to attend (I believe this is their new number…but I could be wrong about the income threshold for this).</p>

<p>In any event. This student needs to find out which schools on his list meet full need for international students. This information should be clearly stated on each website. It sounds like he will need significant aid to attend school in the U.S.</p>

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<p>i see. thanks a lot for the comments. :slight_smile: actually my parents combined income US$44K a year, before tax. and they are still paying off two of my brothers and a sister’s educational loan for college, which is roughly around US$2-3k a year, but still owing roughly US$15K. Will these factors be considered as well? And i wouldn’t want to burden them any further because of their age (66 & 57 as of 2010), and an extra US$5-10k per year for my college education will certainly be a great burden to them - even though them being parents they will not complain in front of you, but i do understand how they feel. </p>

<p>how do you think i should convey such message across my financial application form? if its even possible in the first place. I am from Borneo, Malaysia by the way. :)</p>

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<p>According to the Colorado College Common Data Set figures, for 2008-2009 the school awarded financial aid to 42 degree-seeking non-resident aliens (“internationals”). That is not a huge number (and it appears to represent all students, not freshmen only), but the average award was $41,885. That’s nearly the full cost of attendance.</p>

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<p>^^^^</p>

<p>From Colorado College’s website:</p>

<p>*76% of admitted international students were offered need-based financial assistance, ranging from $7,000 to $51,600. The average need-based international student grant was $39,171</p>

<p>Over 1.9 million dollars was offered to international students in need-based or merit-based assistance.</p>

<p>…If these forms indicate you need a full scholarship and you are not awarded one, you will not be reconsidered for a partial grant.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>It sounds to me, that those big awards are mostly targeted to high-stats desired kids. Note that it say that if you need full aid, but don’t get one, you won’t get anything. That strongly suggests that they target their aid for their desired applicants.</p>

<p>sixfoottall: what are your stats? GPA & SAT/ACT??</p>

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<p>OP:</p>

<p>if you search the cc archives, you’ll find that only a handful (<10?) US colleges are need-blind to internationals AND meet 100% of financial need. </p>

<p>ALL of those colleges are the most selective. Also consider Dartmouth.</p>

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<p>I know that I’ve read on this board that it’s nearly impossible for int’ls to come to the US for their education when their families can contribute very, very little. </p>

<p>The exceptions are those lucky few that are accepted to the super generous schools that promise to meet need for everything including int’l travel)</p>

<p>Most internationals who are studying in the US are full payers or can pay a substantial amount.</p>

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<p>I see from sixfoottall’s posts on another thread that his SATs (superscored) were CR-690, M- 780, W-610. Pretty darn good for an applicant from Borneo whose 1st language is not English.</p>

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<p>True.</p>

<p>I wonder if English is strongly taught there?</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot mom2collegekids, tk21769 and bluebayou for your help. i feel more assured and encouraged now. :)</p>

<p>as for the education system in Borneo, our main language is Malay. and English is also taught but it is taught as a third language with less rigor. I am fortunate enough to be more proficient in English because my father emphasized English a lot when i was young, and i had a scholarship from my government to study in Singapore for four years - that suggests the improvement in my english language. </p>

<p>I understand that it is quite impossible to acquire a substantial financial aid from colleges in US, except for the premier ivy leagues with need-blind admission and are really difficult to get into to start with. Whereas for the other colleges, financial aid is extremely competitive. So this puts me in a difficult situation just like any other applicants with poor financial circumstances. </p>

<p>My SAT scores are pretty low if considered amongst the international pool, especially from the ones i observed on CC. This is my stats:</p>

<p>1st SAT- CR: 670 M: 750 W: 560 (1420/1600, 1980/2400)
2nd SAT - CR: 690 M: 770 W: 610 (1460/1600, 2070/2400)
3rd SAT - CR: 690 M: 780 W: 550 (1470/1600. 2080/2400)</p>

<p>So i have been consistently pulled down by my writing section, perhaps because it is a third language, but i wont find excuses because many international students are able to do well for it despite english being their second or third language. x.x</p>

<p>My school grades are pretty alright but not say the best. I took A levels examination.
(Predicted Grades)
General Paper: A Maths: A Physics: A Geography: A Economics: B
10th Grade GPA was 3.61 upon 4.00
9th Grade GPA was 3.78 upon 4.00</p>

<p>As for my essays, I wrote an essay which my teacher said was very unique and best describe where i come from and my indigenous culture. I can send it to you guys to take a look too if you are interested. :slight_smile: i love borneo a lot and can share with you more about borneo so that you’ll come here for your next holiday! hehe. sorry haha dat was out of topic.</p>

<p>ANYWAY! guess there’s no point for me to keep on speculate much right now, i guess i ll just wait and hope for the best. you guys have made my day.</p>