Financial Aid (International Students)

Paying for College
1

<p>Good evening CC!</p>

<p>I want to ask, specially international students already enrolled in college, the following things:</p>

<p>-Are there any scholarships in the US oriented to international students?</p>

<p>The problem is that I want to go and study in US. However, the costs of attendance are way to high for my economic level.
I want to go to SCU, and the cost for international students per year is nearly $60k.
I can't pay that.</p>

<p>I already searched in the Internet (specially FastWeb [which is only for US citizens] and IEFA) and I didn't found anything.
Mostly there are individual scholarships (scholarships certain colleges offer for applying to their college) and I couldn't find any "general" scholarship or financial aid.</p>

<p>I could also apply for a loan, but I don't have a US co-signer, and without that it's impossible to ask for a loan.
In my country, there are specific government loads, but they reach up to only $40k per year, and loans above that are really hard to get if yout economic level isn't "at the top".</p>

<p>Does anyone knows about something regarding this subject?
I would really, really appreciate any help.
If I can't get any sort of help or loan, all I've been doing (SAT, TOEFL, other things) will be useless.</p>

<p>*You might probably say to seek other colleges, but it's late for me. I'll be doing the SAT this saturday and most admissions's deadline ends before December, and I won't have my results by that time.
I was naive and idiot since I just focused in SCU and didn't really looked for other colleges...</p>

<p>*I'm an International Student from El Salvador. I'm 18 years old. I want to get a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and I'm seeking to apply for Fall 2013 term.</p>

<p>Thanks to anyone who's willing to help.
I really need any advice on this! Please</p>

<p>Cheers,
Guillermo Herrera</p>

2

<p>Hi Guille19!
I’m also an international student applying for fall 2013.</p>

<p>Since we are not from the US, federal aid is obviously out of reach. However, there are many grants and scholarships for international students that you can apply for.</p>

<p>I don’t know if there is an EducationUSA center in El Salvador, but try to get in contact with them. I went to their office in my country and they were very helpful, specially with my financial questions.</p>

<p>My advice is to not loose your faith! And yes, go research more colleges because it’s not too late. The college I’m applying to has a deadline of Dec 1, but I can sed scores until Jan 15. So go out there and try.</p>

<p>I hope I could help you in someway. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Hello Priperotti!</p>

<p>First of, you were the only one who helped me so it’s the best I could get haha.
Thank you.</p>

<p>Second, yes there is an EducationUSA over here but they will just guide me on how should I pay my studies.
They really don’t offer financial aid for undergraduates…
Most of the scholarships here of the US Embassy are for Graduates, sadly.
I’ll try and contact them next week, since this Saturday I’ll take the SAT and I want to keep concentrated in that.</p>

<p>What kind of aid or advice did they give you?
I’ll appreciate your answer since with that I could go and ask them the same.</p>

<p>And yea. After I make the SAT I’ll try to apply for California State Universities, which are a little bit cheaper than SCU.</p>

<p>Thanks and I’ll wait for your reply!</p>

<p>Good luck to you</p>

4

<p>Hello!</p>

<p>I’m also an international student who wants to go to MIT next year.
Is it possible to get a loan/scholarship/aid that covers all my fees (accommodation, tution fee, food)? My family’s financial state is so bad that I’m eligible for aids, but does the aid cover all my fees?</p>

5

<p>You need to track down b@r!um who normally posts in the International Students Forum. She has lots of good advice on searching for aid if you are international.</p>

<p>The best aid will come from the colleges and universities themselves. Go back to your EducationUSA office and ask where students like you have been accepted in recent years, and whether or not they received financial aid. That will also give you ideas about where to apply.</p>

<p>If you do have a dream school, check its website to find out whether or not it offers aid to international students. If it doesn’t and you do need aid, well then drop it from your list. </p>

<p>If you have good grades and SAT scores, read through the threads in this forum on guaranteed merit-based aid. Some of those merit scholarships are open to internationals as well.</p>

6

<p>*In my country, there are specific government loads, but they reach up to only $40k per year, *</p>

<p>Borrowing $40k per year is WAY TOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! You shouldn’t even borrow $20k per year…not even $15k per year. </p>

<p>Do you have any idea of how hard it is to pay back $60k, $80k, $120k in student loan debt? That kind of debt can ruin your life.</p>

<p>If your family won’t pay, and you don’t get into top schools that might determine that you have financial need (or they might determine that your family should pay more than it can), then you need to QUICKLY apply to the schools that will give you large amounts of merit scholarships for your stats. But, many of these schools have approaching deadlines.</p>

<p>Otherwise, you may find yourself with no affordable schools.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for your reply mom2collegekids</p>

<p>Do you really think so? I knew it was going to be risky to ask for such a loan, but do you think it would be a huge mistake?
The problem is, I first need to prove that I’ll be able to pay for the College, in order to get admitted and get an Student Visa.</p>

<p>My family can’t even pay more than $6000 per year… (this is humiliating and embarrasing :()</p>

<p>The only way I could get a really huge scholarship is to get a high SAT score. I know I won’t get that. I can’t even get that. I’m just good at math.</p>

<p>And I can’t “quickly” apply. I haven’t done the SAT yet (I’ll do it this saturday) and I’ll be getting my scores until 3 weeks later.</p>

<p>So you think I shouldn’t ask for a loan?
I need to prove that I need to pay college.</p>

<p>If I don’t, then it was stupid in the first place to ever consider going to the USA, since my chances are not even 1%.</p>

<p>What should I do? Are California Universities’s deadlines ending soon?</p>

8

<p>Is the SCU you are talking about Santa Clara University? If so, you need to understand that SCU does not guarantee to meet the full need of all accepted students. SCU also requires the Profile as a financial aid application form. They do have some excellent merit awards for very high achieving students with excellent SAT or ACT scores. Your cost of attending as an international student is the SAME as for student’s who are U.S. citizens. Even IF you qualified for federally funded aid, it would NOT fund an SCU bill.</p>

9

<p>Do you really think so? I knew it was going to be risky to ask for such a loan, but do you think it would be a huge mistake?</p>

<p>Yes. An American education is NOT worth that much debt. How much do you think you’ll be earning as a newish grad?</p>

<p>Go to college in your home country if you can’t afford college here. If you do well, then you can apply for grad school here.</p>

10

<p>Thumper1 - </p>

<p>Yes. SCU is Santa Clara University.</p>

<p>First, what do you mean with: “you need to understand that SCU does not guarantee to meet the full need of all accepted students.”?</p>

<p>Second, I know that I won’t get aid that will cover ALL the costs. But if I can get a really high one maybe I’ll be ending asking for a lower loan, perhaps $20k or less.
I really need aid, but I think I won’t get it.
My High School GPA is of 3.8, but my GPA in Senior Year was of 4.0 (unweighted)
I also did the International Baccalaureate, but if you combine this with a mediocre SAT score (between 1800-2000), my chances of getting a good financial aid are scarce.</p>

<p>mom2collekids - </p>

<p>I know I won’t earn more then $6k per year, but I really want to go to the USA.</p>

<p>The education here sucks. The institutions (structure) sucks. Job opportunities here (if you graduate here) suck.
Theres nothing good to stay here and study…
I really, really wish to go to SCU or a college in California (my aunt lives there) but everyday I found reasons and facts that says that I won’t go.</p>

11

<p>I know I won’t earn more then $6k per year, but I really want to go to the USA.</p>

<p>??? You know that after you graduate from college you won’t earn more than $6k per year? If that’s so, then do you plan on borrowing money and just not paying it back???</p>

<p>Really wanting to go to college in the US is not enough.</p>

12

<p>I didn’t said I wouldn’t pay for it.</p>

<p>Obviously I will get to gain more money each year.</p>

<p>And I’ll be paying monthly the debt over here. I’ll do everything that’s on my reach: get more than 1 job, ask for a little of help to my parents, brothers, family, and do my whole to get a really good paid job.</p>

<p>I’m sure I’ll be able to pay my doubt in about 15 years (which is the time that the bank here can give you to pay)</p>

13

<p>If you were to borrow, how much do you think your monthly payments would be for the following amounts:</p>

<p>60k</p>

<p>80k</p>

<p>120k</p>

<p>When you graduate from college, how much do you think that your monthly payments would be for each of the above amounts??</p>

<p>And, again, are you saying that when you graduate from college, you expect to only earn 6k per year??</p>

14

<p>If I can stay in the USA I know I will gain more money.</p>

<p>However, the student visa makes me return to my country after I finish studying there.</p>

<p>If I get to study in an American university, I’ll be able to get an initial job here that could pay me $1000 per month, hence $12k a year.</p>

<p>I know that if I ask for $20k or less I would be able to pay them.</p>

<p>If I get to study here there won’t even be a chance to go to graduate school in USA ;/</p>

<p>You have to understand… Since you already live there, you feel it like common, maybe not that good.</p>

<p>Try to live in this country for 18 years and tell me what you think…</p>

15

<p>If you’re only earning $12k per year after you graduate then you won’t have the money to pay back your debt. That is what I’m talking about.</p>

<p>If you borrow $20k per year ($80k total plus interest), then your entire take-home pay will go towards debt payments…do you realize that?</p>

16

<p>The bank gives me up to 15 years to pay my debt.</p>

<p>If I could pay half of what I win ($6k per year) in those 15 years I would pay it.</p>

<p>And interests are 5% per year AFTER 2 years you graduated from College.</p>

<p>So, $6k x 15 > $20k x 4</p>

<p>And I realize that will happen.
That’s why I’m thinking of getting a roommate with whom I can share an apartment or, if not, I’ll live a few years with my parents until this is over.</p>

17

<p>Are two max point SAT subject tests and bad financial state (<10K $/A) enough for free education and living at MIT?</p>

18

<p>Santa Clara University does NOT guarantee to meet the full need of all admitted students. I will give an example of what this could mean. Say the school determines that your family contribution to attend SCU is $10,000. That would leave a $50,000 balance (I’m rounding up the numbers!). Your aid would NOT likely be the full $50,000 balance. You could get a $20,000 grant…but that would still leave you with $30,000 to pay plus your family contribution of $10k. There would very likely be a gap between what SCU offers you in aid, and the full cost of attendance at that school. There are SOME students who do receive more aid, and some less.</p>

<p>My DD is an SCU grad. At the time of her application, SCU practiced enrollment management. This means that in their accepted students, they DID look at how much students could pay, and balanced aid amounts to help them stay in the black.</p>

<p>True example…DDs EFC was 30,000 and SCU gave her a $6500 grant. That did NOT come close to meeting full need.</p>

19

<p>*The bank gives me up to 15 years to pay my debt.</p>

<p>If I could pay half of what I win ($6k per year) in those 15 years I would pay it.</p>

<p>And interests are 5% per year AFTER 2 years you graduated from College.</p>

<p>So, $6k x 15 > $20k x 4</p>

<p>And I realize that will happen.
That’s why I’m thinking of getting a roommate with whom I can share an apartment or, if not, I’ll live a few years with my parents until this is over.*</p>

<p>So, you think that if you earn $12k per year that you can pay HALF towards student loans? That is crazy.</p>

<p>Doesn’t your country have any income taxes or anything? if so, then you won’t “net” 12k per year. Do you really think that you’re going to want to spend 15 years of your post college life in poverty???</p>

20

<p>It may very well be that $12,000 a year in income is WELL ABOVE the poverty level in the OPs country. It is almost 10 times the average income in the country where my daughter lives right now.</p>

<p>Still…I would caution against borrowing this amount of money to attend college. First, it will likely need to be private loans funded in the country in which this student resides. It is not likely (in my opinion) that a U.S. bank is going to grant loans in this amount to this family (and it would be the family as there would need to be a cosigner).</p>

<p>OP…if your admissions application is a VERY strong one VERY strong, you might get merit aid to support your studies. What IS your SAT score (or ACT) and what are your grades like? I think that is where you should concentrate your efforts.</p>