International Financial Aid (Income around US$40k)

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi everyone, im a prospective international applicant for the class of 2015. Financial aid is the biggest factor for me due to my financial circumstances. </p>

<p>Details:
My family income is about US$40k (prior to tax deduction and certain business costs)
My parents are still paying for the house, about 9 years now (worth US$60k, still have US$30+k left to pay due to heavy interest rate of the bank loan)
I have 2 brothers and 1 sister - all just started working and have their own education debt to pay off, and their total combined income is merely US$20k, and certainly wouldn't want to touch their income because they have their own plans in mind (egs. getting their own house, car, marriage etc)
Im from Borneo, and studied abroad for 4+ years under a full-tuition scholarship.</p>

<p>Here is my academic details and etc etc. </p>

<p>Im from an indigenous tribe in Borneo, and a minority group in Malaysia. Didn't grow up in a city, and had a different growing up experience from some of you guys here. i received a government scholarship to study abroad in a foreign country four years ago, and fortunately was exposed to the idea of US education. do help me out over here.</p>

<p>Im currently on a gap year and will be applying for the class of 2015. Im also a first generation college student.</p>

<p>Test Scores:
SAT 1
1470 (CR+M) 2080 (Total) 690-780-610 (CR/M/W)
SAT 2
Maths 2- 800 Chinese- 800 Physics - 760</p>

<p>Academics:
Cambridge GCE A Levels Grade: Maths A Geography A Physics A Economics B
Final year grade: Maths A Geography A Physics B Economics D (No GPA or school rank)
11th Grade: Maths D Geography B Physics D Economics E
10th Grade GPA 3.57 out of 4.00 (distracted by year-round business research projects)
9th Grade GPA 3.78 out of 4.00
*the most rigorous course load at a top high school in the nation</p>

<p>Archery (11th-12th Grade) School Captain
-Represented school in various National level competitions
-Best: National 1st Position in Team Standard Recurve for National Inter-school Championship
Judo (8th-10th Grade)
-Represented school at Inter-school competition
-Bronze for individual event at inter-school competition
Badminton (till 9th Grade)
- Second place for Men's Under 14 doubles in State competition
- Borneo Badminton Cup (top 8 Men's Under 14 Doubles)</p>

<p>Work Experience:
- English translator of Malay Guidebook: Indigenous Community Building (10k words), and several articles on Borneon native communities from Malay to English, vice versa.
- Research assistant on Indigenous Land Rights and GPS Mapping
- 3 months outfield assignment in collaboration with Raleigh to build gravity water feed system equipped with pioneering filtration in a remote village, Borneo. Facilitated the Project Managers from cambridge university and france with a team of 16 global participants aged 17 to 24 from US, UK, Holland, Ireland and Scotland.
- Service auditor at a consulting firm, doing clandestine inspection of service standards in high-end retail stores. Conducted interviews and phone surveys with employees to assess corporate service qualities. Data analysis of gathered project materials together with graduates and professional adults.
- Other odd jobs such as doing sales at Singapore formula 1 grand prix, private tutoring and waitering.</p>

<p>Awards:
- top12 for a national business competition by a university with teams from India, LA, Singapore. and another recognized national business competition. (a year-long project)
- Research project on human geography was nominated finalist at another national competition.</p>

<p>Community work:
- also a big part of my ECs. Had volunteered overseas at Maldives, Indonesia and Singapore at various occasions (on sponsored trips with recognized NGOs)
- initiated a few community work as well during high school</p>

<p>Essays: Matured writing, would say they are rather good. My counselor says it speaks a lot about who i am. I also wrote an extra letter detailing my experiences during my gap year.
Recs: Pretty good i hope. And my counselor is pretty experienced and well known among the deans for some colleges.</p>

<p>Weakness:
- probably my SAT1. my reading and writing are terrible. takin again in october, last chance!
- dont really have much awards in the academic field, like the many science olympiad winners i've seen on CC.</p>

<p>Currently my plan is to apply for FULL FINANCIAL AID to Vassar/Carleton via EDI - can contribute about 4-5k per year. But brown is definitely lingering in my thoughts. Im also considering Colby, Wesleyan, Dickinson, Rhodes, Amherst, Kenyon. </p>

<p>Based on my financial circumstances and my statistics - do you think I might have a better chance of attaining financial aid if I ED? And if I can only contribute US$4-5k per year maximum, is that asking for too much? </p>

<p>Please help out. :) Thanks a lot!</p>

2

<p>Also to add on, my father is 66 years old and my mother is 57 years old (She will be retiring in February next year, which will make my family income even lower). Not exactly sure if this matters much, but i do want my parents to have some savings for themselves, especially for their own retirement. I feel extremely bad if I have to use up all (or worse, stretch them to difficult extent) for my own education.</p>

<p>I plan to take up personal loan from the government if my financial aid wont be enough.</p>

<p>Thanks for your time. Sorry if my post has been EXTREMELY long. I hope these were not empty babbles.</p>

3

<p>Where will you be applying? Only a handful of schools meet full-need for int’ls.</p>

<p>Your stats are good but not highly competitive for the schools that meet need for int’ls. </p>

<p>I don’t think URM status applies to int’ls…but I could be wrong.</p>

4

<p>Currently my plan is to apply for full financial aid to Vassar/Carleton via EDI - can contribute about 4-5k per year. </p>

<p>Im also considering Colby, Wesleyan, Dickinson, Rhodes, Amherst, Kenyon, Brown. (if you think i may have a better chance at other colleges, do recommend. :D)</p>

5

<p>anyone out there???</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>You’re applying to TWO schools ED? Can you do that?</p>

7

<p>no, i meant I am considering Vassar or Carleton for EDI. If ED I fails for one of them, I will EDII the other.</p>

8

<p>

ED if you can commit to the school. I know Vietnamese-S’porean scholars who do that. You stand a better chance than Singaporeans because your country is less-well represented. If you can only contribute $4-5k, well, the school will have to subsidize you. It’s true that full-pay students get into colleges more easily, but you can’t do anything about it (except pray you strike lottery, lol)</p>

9

<p>By the way, it’s the colleges that decide how much your family can “afford” to pay, based on the financial information you give them. You/ your family can chose to “take it or leave it.” The problem with ED is that since colleges measure “ability to pay” differently you won’t be able to compare financial aid packages. </p>

<p>Have you googled the school + “common data set”? For instance Amherst reported that “the Total dollar amount of institutional financial aid awarded to undergraduate degree-
seeking nonresident aliens” was $47,881, while the average at Carleton was $32,328. The common data set also has total amount the college spends on non resident alien financial aid.</p>

10

<p>thanks a lot college_ruled. I didnt know that the “common data set” is so useful. :slight_smile: Actually I would definitely want to try for Amherst, however I think that it is too far a reach for me. </p>

<p>Aside from that, do you think that, based on my financial circumstances (<US$40k income), stating US$4-5k as the amount i can contribute on my financial aid application is too little? Because that is what my family has decided to be the maximum amount we can contribute. I just need to have some sort of validation from more experienced people.</p>

11

<p>Will you be able to get an education visa though if you admit that you can’t really afford to go to the school that you are admitted to? You might have to see how the financial aid shakes out before hand.</p>

12

<p>I believe the financial statement required for the visa includes financial aid awarded by the college AND any approved loans. My guess (and I don’t know about this) is that the student would provide this info AFTER he got accepted and had his aid.</p>

<p>With income in the $40K range, this student would qualify for excellent need based aid but ONLY at schools that guarantee to meet need for international students. Since financial aid is a MUST, I would suggest NOT applying ED to either of the two schools listed unless they guarantee to meet full need for international students.</p>

13

<p>thumper1 - </p>

<p>You are correct about the visa. When the student has received the I-20 from the college/university he/she will be attending, documentation of ability to cover the costs must be presented at the time of the visa interview. It isn’t necessary at the application stage.</p>

<p>borneoboy - </p>

<p>Some of your questions are answered in the International Students Forum. If you haven’t taken a look at it yet, you should do so. Click on “Discussion Home” in the upper-left of this screen and scroll down to find it. An excellent source of information on the whole college application process that you should read through is [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.state.gov/]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.state.gov/) For more personalized advice, you can meet with the counselors at the advising center closest to you [EducationUSA</a> - Find an Advising Center](<a href=“http://www.educationusa.info/centers.php?region=1]EducationUSA”>http://www.educationusa.info/centers.php?region=1) If you can’t visit in person, they should be able to help you by phone or email.</p>

<p>Please remember that the US is not the only anglophone country that you could complete a degree in. You should take a long hard look at the universities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK. Since your financial situation is not good, you will need to cast a very wide net indeed.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>

14

<p>Of course they are huge reaches but Amherst, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and Yale are need blind for international applicants. While the following link is only true for US applicants, you might find it useful to see how schools define an “average” expected family contribution for a given income here: [Project</a> on Student Debt: What’s the Bottom Line?](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php?sort=b.range_2]Project”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php?sort=b.range_2)</p>

15

<p>that’s really helpful all of u. I think stating US$4-5k as my EFC is alright. :)</p>