WHY do internationals think they should receive aid to attend U.S. universities? @zoeyle
Rice provided need base aid to only 20 international students this year, so yeah it’s very hard to get aid
I’ll reconsider, thanks a lot! @DmitriR
@mom2collegekids @thumper1: I haven’t taken SAT yet but I’ll practice this summer, my parents can definitely pay about <20k a year I think? But they can still find a way to pay about 20-25k :). My GPA this year is 8.5/10, which means 3.4/4 (Please note that the way that my country calculates GPA is a bit different from USA).
@Madison85 : Because most of us who want to study abroad live in developing countries - where education is not really well-developed, that’s why we want a better chance. And even if we have a chance to study in USA, we don’t have much money to spend, fees are a lot higher (transportation, housing, food, etc.), that’s why we need a help.
@SephardicJewESA: Maybe it depends on which school?
@zoeyle, If your parents can pay $20-25k/year for your education, that’s much more than many American families can afford to pay. Many of them don’t qualify for enough aid to go away to school either.
@austinmshauri : I mean if they borrow loan or something, I guess so :). Because normally they pay for me & my bro education about 20k/year.
@zoeyle Have you seen this list? You won’t need aid to attend one of these U.S. colleges or universities, since your parents can afford to pay 100%.
Read the link in post 26. Those schools cost what you say your family can pay.
Just want to say…if you live in a developing country, and your parents can pay $20,000 for you and your siblings per year, to go to school, you are likely fairly wealthy, especially for that country.
ETA…again I say. Those top 50 schools are going to likely have greater than a $50,000 a year price tag…some $60,000 a year. Where is ALL of that money going to come from???
I want to point out that what your parents say they can afford, and how the schools will assess your need, may end up being quite different. I know a number of people who say that $30K or other figure is what they can afford. Heck, I have a figure in mind too that I can uncomfortably pay. But the calculators say otherwise, and there is no way we can get financial aid, nor can most of those families to which I was referring. It’s either merit or nothing. They don’t even qualify for a dime of financial aid according to the formulas. So you might want to try to run the NPCs for some schools to get some idea as to what the schools will expect you to pay. For international situations, business owners, divorced parents, the NPCs are not so accurate, but you might get some idea, running FAFSA and NPC calculators what the schools might consider need.
But most students do not get financial aid, international or otherwise, that is not a form of self help. Those who are the poorest get PELL from the federal government and are allowed to borrow $5500 freshman year, with the amount going up a bit for later years. Hardly what will pay the cost for being away at college. The rest of the money tends to come from the colleges themselves and it’s up to the individual school how international students are treated in need and merit situations.
What country are you from that has no worthwhile college or university for less than $25,000 per year?
And as a reminder. International students are not eligible for federally funded aid, which includes the Pell, and Direct Loans.
@Madison85 : That’s because I’m studying in an bilingual international school, and I want to go study abroad because to be honest, my country’s education sucks! Thus we are having some financial difficulties (not only us, EVERYONE), so probably we’ll be broke if we spend everything we have.
And even for you, let’s say if you want to go study abroad, you’d want to get into a good school, wouldn’t you? 
I’m sorry but what is pell?
Yes we are pretty much a middle-class family, but we are having financial-difficulties, as I have said. And as I want to go to study abroad, my parents expect me to get into at least top 50. @thumper1
@cptofthehouse : Thank you for your information :). For me, even when I haven’t tried the NPCs of FAFSA, I don’t really think my family can afford too haha… Transportation, housing and other fees… That’s why I’m looking for an aid but oops seems like I can hardly get one?
First of all, make sure you even qualify for financial aid. Or you aren’t going to get any. Run your numbers through the FAFSA estimator or the NPCs of some generous schools. Estimate. If you are getting big numbers there, you aren’t going to get the aid. You don’t qualify if that is the case. A lot of Americans get blown away each year when they figure they can afford $15-30K a year for college and the formulas from the colleges say that they are full pay. You don’t get to determine what you can afford in Fin aid eligiblity–the schools and formulas do so. We knew up front we did not qualify for aid. So it’s a waste of our time to even apply for it and to apply to those schools that do not give any merit money and with prices higher than we can afford.
If you do qualify for aid in terms of what your famly’s econimics are, then make sure the colleges on your list will give aid to international students Some specifically exclude them. Again a waste of your time. If your family has stipulations on the selectivity and reputations of the school, then the chances are going to be very small that you get accepted, just by definition and even smaller in that all but a handful of such schools are need aware for international students. The good news is that such schools will tend to meet full need to those internationals accepted, but then you are back to what the definition of need is. You won’t get more than what they define as your need. Merit is a whole other story.
Same issue US citizens have - the money is there and the parents don’t want to pay it.
Run the net price calculators.
Check out the cost of attending.
Some internationals (and US citizens) have to work a few years before they can afford to go to college, or they get tuition benefits from their job.
The net proce calculator will not be accurate for an international student.
Zoey, the Pell is a federally funded Grant. It is on,y available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. You are neither.
You will not be able to complete a FAFSA for financial aid application purposes (in most cases). You will complete the Profile, the International Student Aid Application, and/or and application directly from the college. The college will calculate your financial need based on the information that you accurately provide.
Remember, the very vast majority of colleges do not guarantee to meet fill need for all international students. In addition, the coat of attendance for you at a top 50 school will be upwards of $50,000 a year. That is how much they cost.
The NPC will not be accurate for an international student but some idea can be gotten as to what is expected from a family. Unless the family owns a business, it’s not that difficult to get some idea. By running some numbers you get an idea of what the % of income at various levels is and the % of assets. For US families owing businesses, it’s an issue too, as to how a school will view it.
My brother’s European niece wanted to come to school here in the US and was accepted at some schools, but her parents income and assets which they considered modest, were such that she did not qualify for any financial aid, which was a shock to them all. Just as it happens to be a shock to many US families who consider themselves middle income and feel that $X is the most they could possibly pay for college. And the formulas say otherwise.
I think that the only college that has a NPC for internationals is Harvard.
If the international student does a net price calculator, they will need to remove any U.S. federally funded aid that comes up on the award. They should also check the college policies…and remove any grants or scholarships that international students cannot receive.