If an international student who’s financial condition is really poor applied for financial aid in colleges like Yale, Harvard or MIT etc and got accepted, would the university give him full 100% aid so that he basically has to pay nothing? If not, how can the student pay the rest of the fees not covered by the provided aid?
Depends on the school.
Run the NPC (google it) for any school you are looking at.
Here is Princeton’s: https://admission.princeton.edu/financialaid/estimator
If you were accepted to Princeton (less than 6% who apply are) if your parents make less than $65k, you’d pay nothing… See: https://admission.princeton.edu/financialaid/how-princetons-aid-program-works/who-qualifies-aid
But this is like winning the lottery. Best to have backup plans, just in case.
NPC isn’t accurate for international students.
The competition for a fullride package as an international applicant is so intensely, insanely competitive that you shouldn’t count on it
Are the estimations by NPCs work up to a good order of magnitude? As in, how dependable are those figures (especially for international students)?
Sure, for int’l students the NPC estimate is accurate to an order of magnitude.
That means instead of your net cost being $6000/year, it could really be $60,000/year, instead.
(an order of magnitude means a factor of x10)
It depends on the need-blind college. I believe there are less than 10 colleges in the United States that are BOTH need-blind and promise to meet full-need of international students, and they are all super selective. If I am not mistaken, the schools you mentioned (Yale, Harvard, and MIT) are all on this super-elite list.
I agree with other posters that the online NPCs may not necessarily be accurate for international students, however.
It depends on the college. Most colleges are need-blind for admissions. Very few of them offer good financial aid to international students.
@ucbalumnus, Good as in what percentage of total cost? More than 95%?
If the college wants you badly enough, they can give you 100%.
Need blind admissions: Your ability to pay will not affect admissions. Most places are need blind. They don’t care if you can pay or not. It is up to you to figure out how to pay.
Need sensitive admissions: Your ability to pay might or might not affect admissions. If they really want you, they will admit you, and they might give you enough aid. If they don’t particularly want you, and you would require too much aid, they won’t admit you.
Meets need: The institution guarantees that it will meet your full need as they interpret your need to be. They may think you can pay 90%, but you may think you can only afford 70%. If you want to go there, you have to figure out how to pay the difference.
As an international with significant need, what you are looking for is places that might meet your need. Don’t be afraid of applying to places that are need sensitive but do offer good aid.
The university of Richmond is need aware for internationals but meets 100% of need (as calculated by them) if admitted.