I am an international student from India. It has always been my ambition to study in an ivy league university but I am afraid that the high tuition fees could be a barrier between me going there. So my question is even if i get there, somehow even if i make it to the ivy league or some other top universities like Stanford and MIT what are my chances of getting financial aid. My family’s net income(when converted to $) is roughly 25,000$ annually.
You apply to financial aid at the same time as you apply for admission. If you get in, they’ll cover most of the fees, provided your family doesn’t own multiple houses (assets are also evaluated when granting aid).
It means you need a compelling story in addition to excellent grades. You also need to understand “fit” - Brown and Dartmouth have very little in common, for instance. Nor Amherst and UChic.
It also means your odds are very slim since these universities may only admit 3-4 students from your country.
You have go to the financial aid page for each college you are interested in. There are 2 issues. First, is the school need blind in admissions for international students? If it is, they make admissions decisions without regard to ability to pay. If it is need aware, they do consider ability to pay. Second, does the school meet full need for international students? If it does, they will provide full financial aid based on formulas they use to calculate need. There are very few colleges that are both need blind and 100% need met. HYPM and Amherst are the only ones of the top colleges.
There are only a handful of US colleges which are need blind for internationals. Harvard, Yale, and I think MIT. There may be others. But most of them are not. This means that your level of aid will be taken into context when deciding whether to admit you are not.
The projected financial impact of COVID for colleges will be huge. Most colleges will have lower financial aid budgets next year for sure. So this will definitely impact internationals needing aid the hardest.
Amherst College as well.
Princeton, too
5 total that are need blind for internationals (meet full need too). HYP/MIT/Amherst
OP, what are your stats? Are you a top student in your school? In your country?