<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I am currently in my senior year of high school.</p>
<p>I am a non-US citizen and currently on a visa.
My parents are both PhD and my father is also an MD.
We definitely do not have anywhere close to pay for a college that is 40-60 thousand a year.</p>
<p>Because of this background there was no point applying for QuestBridge (due to my parent's higher education records) and now I realize I cannot even apply for FAFSA simply because I am not a permanent resident.</p>
<p>I was wandering what would happen if I get into a college whose tuition is simply too high.
Other than student loan (which my parents say they will refuse to take), is there an alternative?</p>
<p>I feel like I fall in the very unfortunate group that does not qualify for any financial help and yet does not have the economic standing to pay the tuition.</p>
<p>Waiting to hear your responses,
TypicalDude</p>
<p>Your PhD and MD parents are likely earning enough to pay SOMETHING towards college. How much will they pay? </p>
<p>It sounds like they may earn too much to QUALIFY for aid, even if you got into a school that gives aid to int’ls.</p>
<p>What are your stats? </p>
<p>you may need to apply to schools that give large merit to int’ls. What is your major/career goal?</p>
<p>I was wandering what would happen if I get into a college whose tuition is simply too high.</p>
<p>What would happen if I tried to buy a pricey car, but didn’t have the money? Same answer.</p>
<p>What “automatic student loan” do you mean? The Direct Student Loan and PLUS (parent)Loans are for those who can fill out FAFSA, so you and your parents won’t be eligible. Not that it matters if you and your parents are not considering that option.</p>
<p>The way it works, is you are an interantional student for admissions and aid purposes at most schools. Some states, (like CA, NY) have provisions where you can get instate tuition if you graduate from a high school in the state and can prove that you’ve been there for three years or whatever designated time period. The Dream Act in CA may even make you eligible for financial aid if your parents earn below a certain amount.</p>
<p>You need to talk to your parents about what they can afford for you to go to school Perhaps going back to your country is an option. It may be a lot less expensive to do that for higher education. But find out what your parents are willing to pay, check out some NPC s on college sites of the colleges you have in mind and see what they will come up with on average for a student in your situation, Make sure the schools you have in mind even give financial and/or merit money to internationals. Some do, some don’t. Some have different rules for international students. As with US students, the schools where you would be a “top Catch” in terms of test scores, grades, etc, are where the chances are best that you can get merit aid, if the school gives it. it seems to me that a lot of the merit money is available to internationals as well.</p>
<p>Otherwise you live at home, and go to a local state college, or community college. Some may consider you a resident and many have low costs even for non citizens, non state residents.</p>
<p>From past posts, it looks like the student is looking at ivies and similar. While those schools do give aid to int’ls, if the parents won’t pay the “family contribution” then that will be a problem.</p>
<p>The dad is a physician and the mom is a PhD. If they’re both employed then likely their income is high enough that either they wouldn’t qualify for aid or they would be expected to pay most of the costs. </p>
<p>So, if the parents are expected to pay $40k-60k per year and won’t, then that is a huge problem. </p>
<p>I think the student has an ACT 33. If so, then there are schools that would give large merit for those stats. However, the parents would STILL have to pay for the rest of the costs…which could be $15k-25k per year. Will the parents pay that much???</p>
<p>Questbridge is for low income, under $60,000 I think. Are you saying you are low income?</p>
<p>Since your parents won’t take out loans and you don’t qualify for any, what is your parent’s plan for your college education?</p>
<p>You are in the same position as many student are who want to go to a school that is more than their parents will pay, and the school will not come up with the money for whatever reason. Schools HPY, that guarantee to meet full need and have no merit money, just put their hands up if the parents don’t want to invest in their kids. </p>
<p>My close friend’s ex husband was a surgeon who made a lot of money, but refused to pay a dime for college. Wouldn’t even fill out the forms because he said he knew it was waste fo his time and he wasn’t going to release that info for nothing. SO the kids went to local state school, one working her way through college. That’s what you have to do if your parents are deemed to have the money to pay but won’t. That has nothing to do with being international, by the way.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the prompt responses.</p>
<p>My stats can be found in:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1563120-chance-me-some-universities.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1563120-chance-me-some-universities.html</a></p>
<p>@mom2collegekids: My parents are willing (and able) to pay 10-15k a year (but cannot pay much above that). </p>
<p>Additional information that I now find important to add: my mom is not employed currently, and we are permanent residents. I am interested in engineering and will probably ED to Cornell. I am a New York resident.</p>
<p>TypicalDude</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>What do you mean by saying that you’re “here on a visa”, but then you say that you have PR status??? And you say that you can’t submit FAFSA…Permanent residents can submit FAFSA (however, in your case FAFSA won’t mean much since your dad likely earns too much for Pell, and your parents won’t let you borrow.)</p>
<p>Do you have a Green Card?</p>
<p>Anyway…have you had your parents run the NPC’s on Cornell’s website? If so, what did it say that your parents will have to pay? If they haven’t, then have them do so.</p>
<p>Even if your mom isn’t currently working, if your dad is working as a MD, then it’s likely his income is strong.</p>
<p>What is your major and career goal?</p>
<p>If finances are a serious consideration, I would suggest you NOT apply early decision to Cornell…or anywhere else for that matter. You really should take the opportunity to compare financial aid offers amongst a number of schools. </p>
<p>Simply put…if you happen to get accepted, you will receive an estimated financial aid,award (don’t forget to submit the Profile ASAP too). You will be given a VERY short time to make a,decision about whether to accept this offer…or not. Here is the rub. You will ONLY have that offer from Cornell. If it doesn’t look good enough, you will decline the offer. Then you will submit other applications. It is very possible that the offer from Cornell will exceed any others,you receive…oh well…too late.</p>
<p>Why not wait and apply regular decision to a number of schools. Get their offers, and see which net cost best fits your family finances.</p>
<p>And agree…you are contradicting yourself…are you a permanent resident green card holder…or not.</p>
<p>I apologize for the confusion. My family does not have a green card. If that makes us non-permanent residents, then I guess that’s what we are.</p>
<p>I did some more poking around and understand that Cornell does have some need-based financial aid program that is limited and is available upon completing a form called CSS. The problem is, even if I am accepted to Cornell and get financial aid for freshman year, I will still have to apply again for the other three years.</p>
<p>I guess this is the most an international student can get.</p>
<p>If anyone has anymore comments/suggestions, I am eager to hear them.</p>
<p>Your GPA and ACT put you in the range of some of the guaranteed merit scholarships described in the threads at the top of this forum. Read through them, investigate the scholarships, and find out which are open to international applicants. Some are.</p>
<p>$10k to $15k will not get you very far. You need to be looking at commuting-distance community colleges and public universities. You also need to find out whether or not you should convert your visa to an F1 so that you can get a part-time job while you are in school.</p>
<p>Typicaldude, you can get NY state tution rates for state schools if you’ve been here for 3 years and are graduating from a NY high school even without a green card. A SUNY is about $20K total, and a number of them do give out merit awards that can make it likely that they are affordable to you. Also, it is highly likely that there is a state school, probably a number within commuting distance. So you are in the clover here. It’s difficult to be without college options for financial reasons in NY state.</p>
<p>All students, US citizens included have to reapply for financial aid each year. SO nothing different here for you. As for financial aid, you need to find out what schools expect your parents to pay. Fill out Cornell’s NPC and see what they say. If you don’t have need, Cornell isn’t going to give you aid and even the state land grant divisions cost more than the $10-15K in your budget. So unless your parents income/assets qualify for you for aid, the schools with no merit awards and with sticker prices beyond what you can afford are not doable for you.</p>
<p>There are also any number of private colleges, Catholic ones for sure, that I know in this state that will likely give you merit money if your numbers are such that you are a strong candidate for Cornell. Fordham has some full tuition awards, as does Iona, Hofstra, Wagner, just to name a few that I know have given some merit money that would bring the cost down to your affordable level. So you will have a lot of options if you look for schools that want you.</p>
<p>I would run that NPC for Cornell before applying ED, or there at all. They do not give out scholarships, as I have said, so it will all be based on need, and if your NPC says your family should be paying $40K, you aren’t going to get enough aid from such need only schools that reduce your cost below that. Income used will for estimates will be 2013, and assets need to be listed too, including primary home market values for PROFILE. And yes, if you get an award for next year and your family income is low because your mother was not employed for a part of 2013, if she is employed for more of 2014 than she was, your financial aid will be adjusted accordingly. This goes for anyone on financial aid. Need is determined year by year.</p>
<p>Please run some numbers to find out what your parents are going to be expected to pay. The Cornell or Colgate NPCs are good indicators for financial aid from schools that tend to give out strong such packages. Fordham’s has a good one that includes their merit policies.</p>
<p>TypicalDude…
Have you had your parents run the Net Price Calculators on Cornell’s website? If not they should. </p>
<p>Does your dad work full time as a physician here in the US? If so, then his income should be pretty strong. </p>
<p>Will your mom be employed at some point or does she lack the right visa to work here?</p>
<p>Hello mom2collegekids. We got out green card just in time to apply for all of the aid stuff, so now I am paying ~15k a year to Cornell, which my family can somehow (haha) manage. Thank you so much for your support during those hard times, they were very stressing.</p>
<p>Now I am just nervous about college in general, but at least I share this problem with so many other people.</p>
<p>again, thank you,
TypicalDude</p>
<p>Thanks for the update - I’m glad your story has a happy ending (and a happy beginning at Cornell)!</p>
<p>Wow that is great news! Lucky the green card came through–that changes everything. Join the FB group if you want to talk to other freshmen.</p>