<p>Hi, everyone.</p>
<p>I am applying for the Fall 2013 intake and I'll also be applying for financial aid. My family, at most, can pay up to 5-7 thousand dollars each year. My annual family income, as of now, is about $20,000. My father has inherited 2 lands (plots). Other than that (except for savings in the current account), my family doesn't earn from any other source. Also, as of now, we don't own a house.</p>
<p>Will my family having 2 plots SIGNIFICANTLY affect the amount of aid I might receive if I get admitted anywhere? I know our family income is in the lowest of thresholds, but how will the 2 lands factor it?</p>
<p>Can anyone say from experience?</p>
<p>Yes, the value of the land will be considered an asset (just like it would be for a US citizen/permanent resident) that your family should be able to draw from to help assist you with college.</p>
<p>My question was that will it considerably affect the amount of aid I might receive? Almost all of my family income’s is expended on annual expenses and my family would have to sell ALL its assets if it is to support my education for 4 years. </p>
<p>So, from experience, could I still expect to receive a healthy financial aid package (50,000 dollars) with the aforementioned assets/income?</p>
<p>First of all most schools are not need blind to international students (this means the amount of aid that you need will be a factor in the admissions process). In short, if you need a lot of aid it will be a major negative in the admissions process. Needing a health financial aid package of $50k, unless you are someone that the college really really wants, because you bring something exceptional to the table is going to hurt you in the admissions process.</p>
<p>Since the land will be used as an asset, no school is going to ignore this when it comes to granting you need based aid. in addition, you will have to prove that you have enough $4 to cover your expenses in order to get a visa to study in the US.</p>
<p>Yes, since I need a healthy aid package, I’ll be applying to only Ivy Leagues and top-ranked LACs.</p>
<p>there are only 6 schools that are need blind and meet 100% demonstrated need to international students (not all of the Ivies are need blind). research carefully</p>
<p>The land your family owns will be an asset for financial aid purposes. How much is this land worth (in U.S. dollars). The value of this property will determine how much it will be assessed for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>sybbie719</p>
<p>Yes, I am aware of that, but there’s nothing much we international students can do. We just have to suck its up and hope we get good aid packages.</p>
<p>thumper1,</p>
<p>Around 20,000 dollars. But we don’t own a home so that can factor in as well.</p>
<p>Sent from my GT-S5360 using CC</p>
<p>By the way, has any one of you not disclosed property on the CSS profile? Just curious.</p>
<p>Sent from my GT-S5360 using CC</p>
<p>Do you cheat, steal, lie and forge documents? Just curious.</p>
<p>By the way, has any one of you not disclosed property on the CSS profile? Just curious.</p>
<p>And int’ls wonder why so many of our schools won’t give aid to int’ls. Since there are people who will not disclose that they have assets, and it takes more of an effort (money) for schools to uncover such dishonesty from int’l applicants, most schools just avoid the whole thing by not giving aid to int’ls. </p>
<p>I’m guessing that the schools that do give need-based aid to int’ls, must have the means to uncover such attempts.</p>
<p>OMG I wish every admissions office at every single college in this country could read this thread.</p>
<p>Chill out, everyone. I don’t intend to conceal either the income my family generates or the assest(s) my family owns.</p>
<p>I was just merely asking a question. Chill out!</p>
<p>Sent from my GT-S5360 using CC</p>
<p>You are REQUIRED to report all assets on the Profile. If you don’t, it is considered fraud. You would lose not only your financial aid but also your offer of admission. Be honest on those financial aid forms.</p>
<p>Owning a primary residence usually counts LESS than having other real estate properties. That being said, the best you can do is submit your financial aid application forms and wait and see what happens. Just make sure that you application list includes some affordable options for your family. This could be colleges in your country…and then perhaps down the road a graduate degree in the U.S.</p>
<p>Thumper1,</p>
<p>How do inherited lands (2 of them) compare with other forms of assests, provided that we don’t own a home and we might have to sell one of the lands if we are to buy a new one?</p>
<p>Sent from my GT-S5360 using CC</p>
<p>It may be a good idea to sell one or both and buy a primary residence.</p>
<p>But there are a lot of factors one needs to take into account when making such a decision.</p>
<p>I was wondering whether colleges would consider the fact that my parents don’t a house when looking at the lands they inherited </p>
<p>Sent from my GT-S5360 using CC</p>
<p>Nope. Property that has a resale value is like cash sitting in a bank account. It does not matter that your parents don’t own a home. Even if they did, some financial aid evaluations would take that into account as it is property that can be used as collateral for a loan.</p>
<p>I agree, but colleges would take into account that we’re looking for a house and that might entail selling the lands we own. </p>
<p>If all my family’s assests will be able to pay off the 4 year tuition & board fees, the college wont ask us to strip ourselves of all our assests (we don’t own a home, too!). That sounds insane.</p>
<p>Sent from my GT-S5360 using CC</p>
<p>Junaid, schools use all kinds of different ways in defining need and meeting it for US as well as foreign students. My advice to you is to make sure the colleges you schools give financial aid to international students and/or have substantial merit awards, again that international students are eligible to get, apply only to such schools. It is not as important that you restrict yourself to just those schools that are need blind in admissions AND meet 100% of need to Foreign students. Sometimes the best deals are from those schools that don’t fund everybody, or even are stingy with the funding, because some of them are geneorous to those that they do choose to fund, the students they want the most. </p>
<p>I also suggest you look at the threads that Momfromtexas wrote about Full Ride Scholarships as her search methods are relevant still today, though you would change the parameters to fit your particular situation. </p>
<p>If your family owns those properties, it is clear that you need to have them down as assets or you and your family are lying on the forms, and commmiting fraud. Not a nice step into a new country.</p>
<p>If you have the academic profile where you feel you are in the running for the most selective schools in the country, there will likely be schools where that proflie and your international standing will be desirable and there may be merit money offered for that. So make sure you include such schools on your list–yes, you will have to search for them, and you probably will have a better chance at those than at the top schools where the accept rate is so low and yes, those that do accept international students regularly and provide financial aid to them have some process in that country to verify assets, so financial aid may not cover all of your need even if you get what such schools define as 100% of need.</p>
<p>This is a situation that US students also face, though they do have a wider list of choices as they do not have to use an international students filter on their list. Many kids have some situation that bars them from getting the money they need to go to school whether it is family property, uncooperative parents, a non custodial parent that won’t pony up or pay, or familes laden with bills and loans.</p>
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