Financial Aid International Student

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello, I had a question regarding financial aid from Cornell.</p>

<p>I am an international student and I am thinking about applying early decision to Cornell University.
Financial aid is very important to me and I am considered to be from a low-income family.
But due to my status as an international student, receiving financial aid from Cornell may be difficult.</p>

<p>Do you think I can get financial aid even if I apply early to Cornell?
Would applying early decision as an international student reduce my chance of getting financial aid?
Also, I heard that only around 40 to 50 international students in one grade receive financial aid. Is that true?
What are the standards that decide which international students get financial aid?</p>

<p>Thank you so much</p>

2

<p>Doesn’t Cornell meet need for all accepted students? </p>

<p>The issue may be that it might be need-aware for int’ls. That could be a concern if your need is great. After all, if another int’l only needs $15k per year, and you need $65k per year, then maybe that would be the standard for determining? (that would be a huge difference over 4 years, right?)</p>

<p>But some say that need-aware schools are usually need-aware later in the cycle when their aid budget is dwindling. </p>

<p>Do you live in a country where it would be difficult to ascertain your family’s true financial situation? There are countries where families don’t report income, black market income is rampant, and assets would be hard to determine. (One reason why some schools don’t give aid to int’ls is simply because of the those reasons…the schools don’t have the means to really determine financial situation and they don’t want to give aid in those cases.)</p>

3

<p>See <a href=“http://finaid.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/International%20Financial%20Aid%20FAQs_1.pdf[quote]Is”>http://finaid.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/International%20Financial%20Aid%20FAQs_1.pdf

</p>

4

<p>So it is need blind for admission, but it can be selective by not meeting the need.</p>

5

<p>As their web site indicates, Cornell is need blind for you in admissions but does not guarantee to meet full need for you. You can ask the financial aid office there if they do meet full need for International students accepted ED, or if there is a better chance for a better package. </p>

<p>When a school does not meet full need, they can have any number of ways to decide who gets more than others. Early in the process MIGHT be a factor. How much they want you is often a factor. In some schools, all accepted students get an internal “grade” that makes no difference until your name hits the fin aid office and then it determines whether you get the better packages or not. Many schools won’t divulge their methodology. </p>

<p>The problem is if Cornell comes up with a package that is barely doable, you put your parents in the position of having to say “no” when it might end up the best deal you get, or breaking their necks to make it work, when you could have done a lot better. You have no basis of comparison as to what you could be getting for which schools. Your name will go on the ED list and you will be flushed from admissions consideration from those schools subscribing to that list. It’s an easy yes/no if you get what your family can easily do or if the package makes it impossible for you to pay. It’s that in between that make it difficult and that’s what often happens. </p>

<p>Did your run NPCs at a number of schools to get some idea what you can expect as a “good” financial aid package? If your family finances are not complicated, I suggest you do so, starting with Cornell and running the same with some other schools you might consider and see if the aid packages coming up are even within the ball park.</p>

6

<p>Thank you for everyone for your responses! </p>

<p>@mom2collegekids Cornell only fully meets the needs for domestic students (U.S. citizens). For internationals, Cornell not only gives aids a few people, but also may not meet full need. This may be the problem for me, since even if I may get accepted Early Decision at Cornell, I may not even get a financial aid. There is an option to back out Early Decision if financial aid need isn’t met, but I am not sure if this may be a good idea. </p>

<p>@cptofthehouse Since I am an international students, many schools’ NPCs do not work for me, for example Cornell’s. The calculator would say that it is not able to determine my financial aid due to the fact that I am not an US citizen. However, had I been a US citizen, I would get a lot of financial aid since my family’s income is below $60,000. </p>

<p>Furthermore, what do you mean by “Your name will go on the ED list and you will be flushed from admissions consideration from those schools subscribing to that list”? Are you saying that if I do decide to decline the early decision offer from Cornell, other schools subscribing to that list would not consider me for Regular Decision?</p>

<p>Also, what do you mean by “if there is a better chance for a better package.” When you mean “a better chance” do you mean like Regular Decision? </p>

<p>Lastly, regarding your comment about the “internal grade”, wouldn’t that mean that I would get less aid if I apply to early decision since I am technically binded for Cornell and Cornell would not have to worry about getting the most competitive students in the pool?</p>

<p>Thank you so much everyone!!</p>

7

<p>An international student that does not get full need met, often means a student that cannot possibiy matriculate since such students have to fill out a form showing how they will be paying for their expenses in the US. Immigration requires proof of ability to pay in order to for international students to get the visa necessary to come to this country. So, IMO, it doesn’t make sense to fool around with ED students that have a high chance of not being able to accept the offer of admissions. However, though Cornell is need blind for international students, in general, it is possible that it is not during ED, so that is something and international student should ask. Even at need blind schools, there are often categories of students and situations where it is not the case. Because there is NOT enough aid money for all accepted international students to get full need met, Cornell might want to have the whole spectrum of internationals on the table before deciding who gets the better package. </p>

<p>Usualy schools do not like to “fool around” with ED students. They want to admit those they want, and that’s it since this all should be done before the holidays when colleges tend to shut down for a few weeks, and then admissions has to embark on their big job, the main event, which is processing the apps RD when the deluge hits. So at that time, ED is a done deed, and often getting the attention of admissions during this time is not easy. So, usually, from what I have seen with schools that have ED, they will give a good package to accepted students, so they can be done with it. But being in a category, that is not guaranteed full need, brings up a number of questions. </p>

<p>You have a certain amount of time to respond to the ED offer with the fin aid package, usually. You are expected to attend as you have signed that you will if accepeted unless your aid makes it not possible to go there., in which case you have to let admissions know and then deal with the fin aid office about getting more money. They are two separate offices in the case of Cornell. IT’s up to you to get the package squared away, and if you cannot, make sure you let Admissions know so you are not put on the ED list that does get circulated to schools that so subscribe. Because if you are on that list, and another school you want to apply to for RD sees your name on it, you can be flushed. This is the only situation that I know of where schools share who they are accepting other than with athletic announcements. They do take the ED contract seriously.</p>

<p>So Email the fin aid office at Cornell and ask if international students applying ED get full need met, or if they cannot get full need met, they are auto deferred to RD, and if the chances are better in getting full need met as an international during the ED cycle. Hopefully, they will answer these questions. </p>

<p>The problem with ED is that when you are looking at an isolated offer, it’s hard to know if that is indeed as good as it gets, or if another school would do better. Should the family really tighten the belts and go all out to pay for that school, or would some other schools come up with more affordable packages. That’s the problem with ED if the offer is not quite good enough, but not horribly bad. It does put families and students on the spot.</p>

8

<p>""Is Cornell need‐blind for admission for international students?
• Yes. At Cornell all admission consideration is need blind, meaning that your ability to
finance your education does not impact your admissions decision. Admitted students
who have applied for international aid and have demonstrated financial need will be
considered for any available funds.
• Due to our limited funds we cannot provide funding to all admitted international
students that demonstrate financial need.
“”</p>

<p>Ok, the above is stupid. Why not just be need-aware and provide funding for all admitted int’ls? Why admit some and then not give them aid. Crazy…and interferes with yield! Might as well admit folks that you know are getting the help they need, so if they don’t enroll, it won’t be because of anything Cornell did. </p>

<p>Unless Cornell is admitting int’ls that Cornell suspects are hiding assets/income, their policy is odd. </p>

9

<p>It’s an admit/deny. Happens at a lot of places.</p>

10

<p>It does happen==those with need who gapped come up with the money from somewhere. Not just international students either. Sometimes there are resources available only after fin aid options are exhausted. My husband was in a situation like that. His grandmother would have paid for his college if not enough aid was forth coming. Her financial info was not needed when he applied for aid, and it was not a true given. He did get generous aid, due his mother’s financial situation, but had that not panned out, grandmother’s resources were an option.</p>

11

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<p>Yes, it does happen a lot at places notorious for bad aid (NYU) and FAFSA-only schools or schools that don’t ask for NCP info. It is uncommon at great-aid schools like Cornell. </p>

<p>I can understand why THOSE schools do it (except NYU), because there could be the assumption that there is a source of money that FAFSA doesn’t capture (home equity, NCP money) and those schools may care less about yield. For a school like Cornell, an ivy that does care about yield, to do admit/deny, especially when int’l admittance is so daunting seems short-sighted. Might as well be need-aware and meet full need. The fact that they do this suggests to me that they have found that some/many int’ls’ financial pictures are often better than reported…and those who arent’ given aid magically come up with the money to pay.</p>

12

<p>Same for students applying to OOS that they know their need would not be met. To come up with money to attend the school is usually not the responsibility of the school but the student. Many international students may borrow money from relatives (or even sponsored by relatives), at least some of them that I know.</p>

13

<p>I don’t know what Cornell’s policies are in terms of being need blind for admissions and meeting full need, other than what has been brought up here. Most schools have categories where they are NOT need blind in admissions or meet full need, even the most generous schools, top schools It could be a category such as particular programs–no school I know extends full need met guarantees to their adult programs, weekend programs, professional schools, etc. A big difference between Columbia College in NYC and the General Studies part of that university is the financial aid policy for each of them Full need guaranteed for one, and not for the other. Some schools may guarantee full need met and need blind admission for ED, and not for RD, or just one or the onter and in reverse. And when you start getting into smaller categories like international students, or wait list students, transfers, etc, the policies may not be the same as generally stated. You have to ask admissions AND financial aid exactly what the exceptions to stated policies are. </p>

<p>Cornell is generous as far as college go, from what I have seen, in terms of fin aid. How an international student applying ED with financial need would fare, I don’t know. </p>