<p>Hi, I'm from a Third world country and I got in Georgetown College and they provide need-based aids for international students, I was already awarded with a merit-based scholarship which I'm very thankful for. I'm about to fill out their need-based aid application form and it worries me because one item says</p>
<p>" Total amount (USD) you plan to have available for your education each year: "</p>
<p>and I asked my parents how much their budget was and they said 5,000-7000 USD since I have 3 more siblings and 2 of them are also in college. My mom is a housewife but also has a small business here so I wrote business woman in my college application while my dad is a seaman, he makes about 42,000 per year. Anyway I'm afraid to write 5000-7000 down since it's so embarrassing and the school might think badly of me or I don't know, please help. Is it fine to write that down? or what? I mean I understand I don't have much choice but, is that fine though?</p>
<p>If really need the fin aid to attend, I think you should tell the truth, I mean if they give you insufficient aid, how will you attend in the first place?</p>
<p>Also, if you compare your situation with other students who need aid, it isn’t that bad. Some applicants even need the college to pay for their plane ticket because they barely have anything.</p>
<p>Write $5,000 because you’ll need the extra $2,000 to buy your plane ticket.
This is not embarassing - some American families have an EFC of zero (meaning they’re not expected to pay anything for college).
Congratulations on getting admitted to such a great school, especially with aid because it’s even more difficult. :)</p>
<p>Hi! Thank you for answering, but won’t they wonder why I plan to spend so less from the 42,000? I mean they didn’t even ask how much our annual expenses were. Also, they asked for a bank statement from my sponsor and my sponsor is my dad since my mom barely makes any money plus her bank is almost empty. And in my dad’s bank is 28,000 USD… I know it’s not much for a family of 6. I mean my dad just keeps it for rainy days and emergencies but won’t the school wonder why I don’t plan to spend more since my dad has 28,000 USD in his bank? </p>
<p>As much as I want to spend that money anyway they don’t allow me to since again, I’m not the only child they’re supporting. :(</p>
<p>Bambambidam: Are you filling out a Financial Aid request to get money, or is it a certificate to prove you have $42,000 with your scholarship included?
If you’re requesting financial aid (need-based), you MUST write how much you can pay and the school will decide how much to award you. They may decide that you’ll have to spend more. However you should include a letter detailing your expenses: number of kids in the family, how many go to fee-charging school (even if the school is public if you have to pay for anything you have to say), cost of medicine, money someone loaned your father and must be paid back, etc.
You CANNOT write what you think would “look good”.</p>
<p>they didn’t ask for details about how we spend our money or our annual expenses and etc unlike the international student financial aid application. They just asked me how much my sponsor earns and how much do I plan to spend. Should I send then an email regarding my family’s annual expenses?</p>
<p>The document you’re describing is called a certificate of finances. Do you have a financial aid offer from the college and if so how much is it? Or did they send you TWO documents, one (CSS or similar) called FINANCIAL AID APPLICATION and one called CERTIFICATE OF FINANCES?
In your original message it sounded like you were speaking about applying for need-based aid after receiving meri-based aid. That’s the financial aid application and you need to indicate exactly how much you can spend, so that they can offer you some money that would allow to attend.
(And don’t worry, they rarely give you how much you need… except for schools that meet 100% need, the other schools don’t and you have to take out loans sometimes in addition to the loans the school offers you.)
Are you filling out the financial aid application right now, too, or did you fill it out before? Did you fill it out honestly or did you try to “make it look good”?
Does your financial aid offer cover your need (= if you add the money they give you, the money you and your parents have, and the money that you can borrow, you can pay for college).
For example:
line 1: from work and savings, you can contribute $500
line 2: from your parents, there are $5,000
line 3: scholarship and grants from the college, work study, loan, totalling 36,500
If your need is 36,500 and the school offered you 15,000, you are stuck.
If they didn’t give you a need-based scholarship and you’re not currently filling out a financial aid application, you can"t go, and you need to call them immediately to see whether they can revise their financial aid offer (although you should have done that immediately after receiving your financial aid offer, so odds are high they won’t be able to do anything :s. But if you have till June 1 you still have a little time.)</p>
<p>A certificate of finance is for Homeland Security (before they issue the I20 that will lead you to a visa)and aims at discouraging potential illegal immigrants who pretend they want to study in the US when in fact they’d want to work illegally.
On the certificate of finance, there should be<br>
- a line for your personal savings
- a line for your parents contribution
- a line for “sponsors”, which include the college if they offered you a scholarship.
On the third line, place the scholarship you got, any grant, loan, and work-study from the university that admitted you.</p>
<p>I know what a certificate of finances is and I’m quite sure this is a need-based aid since after receiving my merit-based scholarship they wanted me to fill out the need-based aid and it was just a page long. They asked how much I was earning and my sponsor’s yearly salary and also how much I plan to spend, that’s it. I answered it honestly and I asked my parents about it too. That’s exactly what I’m afraid of… what if they look at my need-based aid and they see I don’t plan or my family don’t plan to spend a lot… what if they won’t provide me with a decent aid since I don’t have much.</p>
<p>Well, the more you need money the more they will give you. That’s the idea of a Financial Aid Application. They can’t un-admit you and they can’t rescind your merit offer. So now they’re trying to “make it work” for you, find a way for you to attend their college.
Write down the exact numbers and if necessary write a letter detailing all your expenses for a family of six (cf. message from 9:37 am). IF they don’t want to give you enough money, it won’t be because you asked for too much. THEY will do the calculation anyway. They may “gap” you, for example (see that you need 36,000 but only offer 32,000 so you have a “gap” of 4,000.)
So write the truth, if they disagree and think you should spend more, they’ll let you know but if you write more than you can truly afford they won’t offer you a better scholarship.
BTW, for Americans, families are never asked to contribute their entire savings for one year in college for one child out of 4. How much you’re expected to take out of your savings varies depending on the college and the family’s savings/income (FAFSA and CSS can be different) but they’ll never ask you to use your entire savings for just one year and one child.
Did they tell you how much they expect your family to contribute? (It may be called EFC).
With 28,000 in savings for a family of six, and a salary at 42,000, I’d imagine you’d have to contribute around 5,000…?</p>
<p>Hi, Yes they asked me how much my family is willing to contribute. Yeah, I was a bit worried that they’ll decide to un-admit me since I can’t afford much. Thank you for your help, I appreciate it a lot. I sent my financial aid application last friday and they told me that they’ll email me in the near future… Is it a bad idea to get an update regarding my application or I should just wait until they contact me?</p>
<p>It’s a very good idea to go online if you have a dedicated page and check it often. Wait a couple more days before you email directly again though.
They can’t un-admit you. However for your I-20 you need to have enough money to cover your enrollment; the total can come from loans, scholarships, family money, savings, etc. So hopefully you’ll get a big scholarship, a work-study, and a not-too-big loan.
Even if you’re admitted, if you don’t have enough from all possible sources including the college, you won’t get your I-20.
If you have a student loan, compare with rates in your own country (a good thing to start investigating right now). Come back here for help :).</p>