<p>I know it should be my counselor helping me look into my eligibility in applying for a fee waiver in applying for college, but I'm so confused about the instructions regarding FAFSA, this is for US citizens right? So...I really don't have a clear idea and there are so many directing links. If someone can kindly help me?</p>
<p>I'll list down some details about me:
1. I'm a Hong Kong highschool graduate ready to take the SAT
2. I did not apply for a fee waiver when applying for SAT
3. My family's income is only 10,000hkd a month, equivalent to ~1290usd per month but is government subsidized, therefore my family has received the CSSA
4. I am applying mostly for Early Action so that means I have to settle the application fees but its like 75usd and I've applied for 6 colleges. But what is the deadline exactly, or does it vary with schools?
5. I'm not a green card holder but if I am admitted I will immediately apply for VISA</p>
<p>Forgive me if I seem to be only asking for help and not self helping, I'm really stressed with SAT and essays and my teachers don't even know how to write recommendation letters for US colleges! Their experiences are limited. If any one of you can kindly help I will be so grateful! Thank you!</p>
<p>I’ve applied for Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, Rice, Cornell and Yale university. As far as I see they all do provide financial aids for international students. I was wondering about the fee waiver however, are they applied via sending a request to each school or is there an overall one like the FAFSA? I think I’ve seen something similar from the CollegeBoard</p>
<p>There are not many schools offer need based aids to international students and they are mostly using CSS profile and or their own form for financial aids (in addition to FAFSA for domestic students). In addition, you may try some schools that offer good merit aids if you do qualify. It seems you need full ride which is really rare and extremely competitive. In general, most of the international students from Hong Kong come from the same few schools. One reason is the adcom would be more familiar with those high schools. If your school has no previous experience for college in the US, it may add a hurdle to you.
You need to check each school for their EA deadline. Most of them would be on Nov 1 though. Just make sure you can only apply to one SCEA/REA if there is any on your list.
If you are accepted, the school will send you an I-20 and the estimated cost for attendance and financial aid document (if any). You need to provide proof of financial support (bank statement, etc) that you can cover the difference in order to apply for a VISA at the US embassy. If you do meet the requirement, you should have plenty of time to apply for VISA.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>As an international student, you are not eligible to fill out the FAFSA.</p></li>
<li><p>There is a fee associated with filling out the CSS profile . Students who meet the requirements for a CSS profile waiver, will automatically by granted one. Waivers are not granted to international students. You can contact each school directly to see if they can give you a fee waiver code</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>International students are not eligible for SAT waiver/score report waivers.</p></li>
<li><p>International students are not eligible for College board/Nacac application waivers. You must contact the school directly for for a fee waiver</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Aren’t some of the schools on this list single choice EA? This means the student cannot apply to other EA schools (sometimes exceptions are for public universities…but certainly not other Ivy schools).</p>
<p>So, aaby…what did you do? Because as noted…applying to them all EA is not allowed.</p>
<p>Also, you say you graduated from HS but have not yet taken the SAT? Why is that? The test is designed to be given to HS students during their HS years.</p>
<p>In Hong Kong, students are taking public exams and applying to college at the end of senior year. It is a bit different from the situation in the US. However, if the OP claims to be a HS graduate already, then it is even further behind in schedule.</p>
<p>I’ve just graduated from highschool, I have a post about this, I couldn’t enter universities in Hong Kong because my Chinese does not meet the standard. Overall I am competitive, the problem now is that I have to compete for a financial aid by all means. I’ve already signed up for the SAT on October, so by all means, most of the necessary documents : recommendation letters, essays, supplementary items and school reports are all completed except for SAT scores (I checked deadlines on school websites, some accept scores as late as december) and those regarding fee waiver which I am confused about.</p>
<p>So here it is, sorry for the misunderstanding earlier, I have read the rules, here are my applied colleges:
Harvard (EA) - has waivers for international students who request it
Brown (ED) - has waivers for international students who request it
Stanford (RD) - NACAC / College board fee waivers (as you said, only US citizens right?)
Rice (RD) - has merit scholars from the Office of International Students and Scholars ( No fee waiver for application fee)
Cornell (RD) - I can’t seem to get info from the school web</p>
<p>We do not take the SAT in Hong Kong, not unless you are applying for US colleges. I know I’m late, but typically because I was stupid not to go against my parent’s idea of just studying in HK. HK has their own education system, DSE exams. As far as I’ve seen, for certain US colleges you can submit your IB scores or A levels, but no, nothing regarding the DSE because it is new and sadly, the only exam I’ve taken. Going to the US is a late choice but I am still trying to beat the deadline of course Early Actions and Early Decisions first, everything is done except regarding waivers and SAT scores.
This is confusing I know. Other than that I don’t have to take TOEFL since my school is using the English medium but is not an international school. We have this office that helps students who are trying to apply for overseas colleges but no we don’t have any direct link as international schools do. The staff only needs to ask you to fill out the DSE application form, nothing regarding SAT as it is only done privately. So yeh, I’ve signed up for SAT this october and DSE next year’s march~may. Which is why I’ve considered applying for Early decision and Early action</p>
<p>@billcsho do you mean to say that the school will ask me again if I need to apply for a fee waiver if I am accepted? What about during application, because for some, the fee waiver deadline is also the application deadline ._.</p>
<p>You are correct, you are not eligible for NACAC/College board fee waivers.
You can not apply to Harvard EA and Brown ED. Harvard is single choice, which means if you are applying to them EA, you cannot apply to another school ED.</p>
<p>I was just going to post what Sybbie posted.</p>
<p>Harvard has restrictive early action. You can NOT apply to Brown early if you apply to Harvard early.</p>
<p>If you have already sent your application, you need to contact one of these schools and request your application be regular decision.</p>
<p>ETA…without having an SAT score, you have no idea whether you will actually be a competitive applicant for ANY of the colleges on your list. Actually, even with tippy top SAT scores, most of these schools would be a crap shoot, meaning there is no guarantee you will be accepted. They accept about 10% of applicants. They reject 90% of applicants. Those are not good odds for anyone. In addition, the acceptance rate for international students is even lower than that 10%.</p>
<p>I certainly hope you have other options for college applications.</p>
<p>First of all, how is your SAT practice going? What is your current practice score?
You do know that these schools are super competitive even for domestic students. You do need a back up plan or we call safety here. As you are from a low income family, you are not likely went to an international school in HK. Are you a minority in HK?
Even if you get good financial from school (if you are admitted), it is still likely to have an out of pocket cost. How would your family afford that? You probably need to apply to some scholarships in HK. How is your DSE?</p>
<p>I speak English, Taiwanese, Putonghua, Cantonese, Japanese o<em>o and I know the low admittance rate o</em>o I’m just here to ask about fee waivers @.@ I guess after this I better give Brown a shot than Harvard?</p>
<p>My SAT practice is doing well, the first one I only got 1800 something now its around 2100~2200 not yet reaching 2300 or above though. I lose marks at the very hard vocabulary parts.
I’m not a minority in Hong Kong, I’m Chinese, its more due to my parent’s business failure that ended up bad, regarding other financial help, my aunt who lives in the US said that she is willing to help me with the necessities there. She’s a nurse there and has a green card.
Meanwhile, my DSE was well, was because I got a very good score BUT my Chinese doesn’t meet the minimum requirement. The reason I couldn’t enter international schools is because they only admit international students, for local students, I had to wait for 4 years to have a seat in class which would make me 4 years late of attending school. I’ve applied for the DSE hoping to be my backup plan, but this doesn’t guarantee my Chinese would be better because it really isn’t my mother language (The kindergarten I studied belonged to an international school branch so I received English teaching)
You see, DSE is not totally about scores, the minimum requirement is 3,3,2,2,2 and yet I got 1,7,4,3,3,3 that 1 is the killer. </p>