<p>Can anyone help a friend of mine whose daughter is applying as an international student?
The college applications require that she submit financial statements from bank/s that the family can support her fully while at school in the U.S. However, she is also applying for financial aid. Isn't this like a Catch -22? If they can support her fully, they don't qualify for financial aid then, right?
The financial aid/international students officer told my friend that they will not even consider the application unless all financial statements are sent in.</p>
<p>mom0809, that means that the afore-mentioned school does not award aid to international students. You should be aware that quite a lot of schools which are need-blind or at least very generous with American students when it comes to aid, don't award any aid to non-residents whatsoever. The main reason for this is the fact that in most cases the Government provides support for higher education, through subsidized Stafford and Perkins loans, Pell grants or federal work-study, but non-residents are not eligible for any of these.
If your friend has a good (or more like very good) record, there is still hope however. Most top schools award at least a number of need-based scholarships to international students. There are also less well-known schools which are very helpful towards internationals - I could mention here Berea College in KY, which awards tuition-waivers to internationals as well as US nationals, Ohio Wesleyan University which can cost "as little as" $10k for an international, or Macalester College. Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any more questions!</p>
<p>Thanks, bogoro. That's a great help. I will pass on the names of the schools to her. She was also considering Ursinus (Pa.)
Anyway, regarding financial, does that mean that certain schools, realizing that an international student will need financial aid (based on the financial statements), will still accept that student, and also offer aid?
And that there are some schools that if you cannot afford the full fare, even if you present a good application, will just outright not accept you?
Thanks again for your help. I'm quite familiar with the college app process, but only from the US citizen/resident aspect.</p>
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Anyway, regarding financial, does that mean that certain schools, realizing that an international student will need financial aid (based on the financial statements), will still accept that student, and also offer aid?
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Yes, that's right. These schools aren't very many, and are usually located near the top of the USNews Rankings. As a rule, they are private schools and quite wealthy ones. All Ivy League schools have at least some arrangement, and so do most top 50 LACs. Besides this, schools like UChicago, Duke, Emory (if I'm not mistaken), GATech offer as much as full scholarships for internationals.
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And that there are some schools that if you cannot afford the full fare, even if you present a good application, will just outright not accept you?
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You and your friend should be aware that even if she presents a good application to a school which awards some scholarships but isn't need-blind she might still be rejected. Internationals usually compete in a separate pool from nationals, although if your friend's daughter goes to an US Highschool, she might be lumped together in the same pool with nationals.
The only schools which are (or at least claim to be) needblind towards international students are Harvard, Middlebury, Princeton, Williams and Yale. Your friend's daughter should take a very good look at the number of scholarships each school offers, if she's going to ask for financial aid, as this is going to be a very important factor in regards to her chances of gaining admission. She should also peruse CC, particularly the International Students' forum.</p>
<p>She actually is at a private boarding school in Pa. on full financial aid.
It really is a conundrum. She's not HYP material. She's just a strong student with poor SAT scores. She's looking for schools where SAT's are optional, so I gave her a few (Ursinus being one). Dickinson I think is another. She's such a nice girl that I'm really hoping for the best for her, and trying to get her in touch with the best information available. When it comes to international financial aid though, I'm quite clueless.
Thanks again. You've given us a good starting point.</p>
<p>Bates College and Bowdoin College in Maine, though not need-blind, have a number of full scholarships for international students and do not require any standardized testing. </p>
<p>As a general observation, she should understand that going to college in the US is not a right but a privilege. Belive me, being an international myself, I'm very said to say this, but I feel it's necessary. Our world is unfair, but one has to deal with this.</p>