Financial Aid & Scholarhips for an International Student

Hi, I’ve been living in America for over 9 years. However, my family was not able to obtain neither a green card nor citizenship. I am a f-2 visa. And my parents have been switching to be F-1s. I am legally here in the United States.

I have applied to all of the schools I’ve wanted to attend, which is:
Virginia Tech
Illinois insitute of technology
Penn State
Pitt
G tech
Purdue University
UIUC
OSU

So far, I have been admitted to Penn State (my major is engineering)

Here are my stats if it helps.

GPA : uw 3.85
ACT : 31
Math 2 : 760

1 ap jr year.
4 ap senior year

My grades show an upward improvement over the last few years.

1 honors freshmen year
2 honors sophomore year
1 ap, 3 honors jr year
4 ap, 2 honors senior year

The one thing I am very worried about is my capabilities to pay for my college.
Since my parents have been f-1, they are not legally allowed to work, so technically my family’s income is 0 dollars.
But we have been receiving help from my uncle who has been graciously helping us the last 9 years.

I am South Korean (if this info. matters)

I am really worried that I won’t be able to attend a university because of my financial restrictions.

What should I do? and I know that I can’t ask for financial aid to the govt. and I’m not very informed on scholarships.

Please help me! Thank you

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1729390-urgent-need-help-p1.html

Some of this was addressed in your other thread.

You will likely be paying OOS tuition costs unless your state or public university will consider you as an I state resident because you graduated from an Illinois HS and went there for three years. I don’t think the colleges in Illinois do that.

All of the rest of your list…you would be an out of state stusent anyway, and would be paying out of state rates.

How much can your family pay?

If your uncle is paying for,things on your behalf, that will need to be explained. If your income is $0, the colleges will want to know how your family pays its basic living expenses. That will need to be explained.

Sometimes community colleges are more lenient in terms of residency requirements. Is there a community college within commuting distance from your home that you could attend?

Someone has to pay your college bills. It sounds like no one has a visa which permits them to be employed.

How have your parents been here on F1 visas for nine years without finishing their own schooling?

Hi, where did you apply since your last post on Jan 8? You know a lot of deadlines were Jan 15. You were told then that the public schools you picked are unlikely to give you any aid, or very small. It is not reasonable to expect a college to pay all your costs and you did not yet say how much you will have per year.

Unfortunately you are in PA which does not even give good aid to citizens. (not ILL @thumper1, and he/she said her parents are returning to S. Korea when he/she graduates) Your best chance might be to live with your uncle and go to a local school you can commute to. You will have to appeal to the college for instate tuition under special circumstances.
http://bulletins.psu.edu/undergrad/generalinformation/tuition2

Here are some options to look into. Some of the deadlines have passed so you might have to apply next year for the following fall. Some you will have to check if available to international students.

  1. Questbridge partner schools - you would have been a good candidate for this low income program that accepts international students attending US high schools and the partner schools give full aid to accepted students. But Seniors needed to apply last fall so you can’t do this program any longer. You might still have a chance if any partner schools that you have the stats for (and you do for some) have applications open or apply for next year. But many do not have engineering, you would have to pick math or physics or something else. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of some of these they are all excellent schools. Just look at the ones you are a strong candidate for as far as your test scores are in the top half of accepted students.
    http://www.questbridge.org/partner-colleges/overview-listing

  2. Tuition Free College (Work College) - They are listed in the first post here, you do some work hours for free tuition
    http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1359504-tuition-free-colleges-p1.html

  3. Full or half tuition scholarships go through the list but I can see:

Apply Now*****
University of Alabama, Huntsville - You would get a full tuition scholarship automatically. However, it will cost about 10,000 per year for room and board, books etc. They have engineering.

University of Alabama, Birmingham - You get get a full tuition scholarship automatically but have to pay the living expenses. They have engineering.

Note: You would have got a full tuition to the main Univ of Alabama campus at Tuscaloosa, plus $2,500 per year for engineering student to use toward your other expenses, but the Deadline was Dec 1 . If I were you I would email the admissions department and tell them your are F1 S. Korean graduating from US high school and give your gpa and sat and ask if it is too late to get a scholarship. Or just put in an application NOW and see. It is very simple to fill out, no essay.

Howard - Full tuition, first come first served. This is a Historically Black College near Washington DC, but they accept other races for diversity, as a matter of fact a white guy was student body president a few years ago. It is 94% African American but there are a few Asians, 1.5%. You are one ACT point short of a full ride here.

Here is the full list to check. Read this carefully and look into every school.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

Louisiana Tech - you are one ACT point short of a full ride. You might apply to see, even though the deadline was Jan 5.

Temple - you are one ACT point away from a big award. Deadline Mar 1.