<p>I'm an applicant for the class of 2017, and while I don't need full aid for all 4 years of college, some aid for a year or two may be helpful. My parents can definitely pay for two years fully, and most of the third and fourth year as well, but I would need around 25% aid for the last two years.</p>
<p>Is it worth applying for aid or does it hurt one's chances that badly? Would you recommend a loan for that amount (approx 30k USD total)? Also, can a student apply for aid at only select universities, specifically only at the need-blind schools (HYPM, Dartmouth, Amherst)? And lastly, does anyone have an idea or approximate number for how many international students get fin aid at specific colleges?</p>
<p>I know I have a lot of questions:p, but I'm quite clueless about the whole application process right now, so any help would be really appreciated. :)</p>
<p>You can apply for finaid at the need blind colleges as you mentioned above.
At the need aware colleges, asking for finaid severely diminishes your chances of admission.
As of loans, you can decide to take loans after you get ur admission decision as most Indian banks give loans after you show them ur acceptance letter.
Dont worry about asking questions, its a cycle of learning. Btw, I am a 17’er too. :p</p>
<p>The loan is probably worth it in your case, especially if you can get it only in your last year. That way interest on it won’t get too high either. Plus, if you can get a US citizen as a guarantor, the rate will be really low, so it’s totally worth a college education.</p>
<p>About selectively applying for aid, I’m not too sure, since I haven’t applied for it, but do keep in mind that colleges do share information. So a need-blind school may tell another one that you applied for aid. I don’t know whether it would affect your chances, its unlikely, but you should definitely make sure that it doesn’t before proceeding further.</p>
<p>tastycles- you mean take a loan from an american bank? Hmm…so if you have a relative who’s a US citizen and willing to be your guarantor, you think it could work out cheaper than a loan from an indian bank?</p>
<p>oh and ive been under the impression that colleges share information only if they suspect some kind of digression from the rules like breaking an ED agreement…i wonder if they’d really go to such lengths as to share financial aid/admission related stuff, given the huge amount of material and the limited time they have.
But then again, i guess you never know…</p>
<p>I can’t say anything about if you should get a loan, because, honestly … I don’t know about your parents’ finances. However, if you would like to look into some good schemes, SBI recently introduced a new loan scheme for students who are pursuing undergraduate degrees in India or abroad.</p>
<p>Now on to the things I do now about :p</p>
<p>There are six institutions in the States which are need-blind for international students, namely, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Amherst and Dartmouth. The Cornell website claims to be need-blind for internationals, but I have been told repeatedly by more than one admissions officer that Cornell is not need-blind for international students. Now, all (or most) Common Application (CA) schools, i.e. schools using the CA as their admission forms use the CollegeBoard CSS form to apply for aid. Not having applied for aid myself, I don’t know the technicalities of this form, however, I do know that you can choose colleges you want to apply to.</p>
<p>Also, just to make it clear … if you are a strong applicant, and by strong, I mean the best of the very best, then asking for aid doesn’t affect your chances. If you classify yourself as, say a “borderline” or average candidate, then yes, your aid status massively affects your chances. I noticed how long the previous sentence was :o</p>
<p>I’ll try to answer some of your questions in the PM you’re about to receive :)</p>