I’ve posted this in the International Students/UK section, but hopefully it’s also okay to post here in the parent section, as I’d love some parental advice.
I have several questions, but will begin with just two. The first one has to do with the availability of financial aid and scholarships for US high school students studying abroad (for high school). My daughter, currently the equivalent of an 11th grade high school student, is studying at a sixth form college in the UK and is the first year of the IB diploma program. If she stays on a second year, she will receive an IB diploma, but as she wouldn’t be in the USA, would not receive a US high school diploma. In this scenario, what I need to know is whether she still be able to apply for financial aid and scholarships? So many scholarships want to see a GPA and a high school diploma or equivalent. Here’s the thing – she can return to her US high school in Oregon to complete her final year, whereby she would get her US high school diploma and she would also complete the AP Capstone diploma program. As a Sophmore, she was enrolled in the AP Capstone diploma course. She took three AP courses and four AP exams. She also took SATs and ACTs (and is going to retake the SATs this May).
We/she is trying to figure out, from an educational perspective and a financial aid/scholarship perspective, what she should do – stay in the UK and complete the IB diploma or return to Oregon and get the high school diploma and the AP Capstone Diploma. She will need as much financial assistance as possible; therefore this is a top priority for her/us.
Next, she is interested in applying to both US colleges and UK universities. My second question has two parts: is there an advantage to applying as a current UK student to either US colleges or UK universities (she will NOT be considered a home student for UK universities as she would only have resided in the UK for two years (but she will have a residency card) As well, does anyone know about both FAFSA and other financial aid if she applies to UK universities? If so, are there specific UK universities?
Colleges in the US are perfectly familiar with the IB program and with the UK system. Your daughter will apply to colleges in the US as a US citizen educated abroad. She will need to contact the admissions offices at each place on her list, and ask them what documents they require. She might be asked to complete the international student’s application form. However, as a US citizen she is eligible to file the FAFSA and to recieve federally determined aid (some UK universities also participate in that for student loans). If one or both of her parents live in the US, she almost certainly will qualify for in-state residence in the state where at least one of the parents lives. Check the state Us for their specific policies.
Is there any divorced/custody situation here? Both her parents are residing in the USA and neither of you are actually located outside the USA? There won't be any question about your parental residential qualification for instate uni rates?
There won’t be free money for her in the UK, she would have to pay. If money is an issue she will obviously vye for merit and you can apply for need in the US, but instate is where you are getting the best bang for your buck if money is the biggest issue, so make sure you can have as back up should she not get adequate merit/need.
The IB diploma will serve her well in applying to both US and UK colleges. Many US liberal arts colleges and universities love the IB diploma for developing critical thinking and writing skills in its students.
Regarding financial aid, please look carefully at the instate tuition residency requirements for Oregon state universities (and the reciprocal agreements under WUE https://www.wiche.edu/wue). If being eligible for instate tuition is important to you, there probably is a requirement for one of the parents to reside in OR for 12 months prior to her enrollment in an OR state school. You need to research this carefully so you do not wind up paying out of state tuition.
If one of the parents lives in the US, she would be applying as a US resident, not international, which would increase her financial aid options at private schools.
You could also consider Canadian schools such as University of Toronto or McGill (both like IB), but you won’t get much (or any) financial aid as a US applicant. I don’t know if the less selective Canadian schools would offer merit to a US applicant, but worth asking in the Canadian schools forum (taking you all over the CC map :).
We are all, as a family, residing in the UK. My husband has dual citizenship (American and Irish) and is exercising his treaty rights. We still have our residence in Oregon, but is she doesn’t graduate from Oregon, then I’m not sure whether she would be eligible for in-state tuition rates in Oregon or consortium rates in neighboring states.
Yes, I’m aware of that. One of my daughter’s questions is this…she is interested in applying to Cambridge. For the IB qualifications, she needs two 7’s and a 6 in her HL and a min IB score of 40. For international students (US), they need at least five 5’s in AP courses. She’s also trying to figure which is the better way to apply. If she stayed on beyond her IB years, in her 2nd year at university I believe she would be considered a home student. She’s sent an email to King’s College admissions, but thus far no reply.
She is also interested in some Ivy League schools on the east coast. In particular Brown. I know that some of them will help out with financial aid, once a student has been accepted. As well, if she decided to apply to (and was accepted) at US colleges, same question – better to finish up the IB diploma here (but not get the US high school diploma from her home state) or return home and do the AP Capstone (she’d end up with at least 7-8 AP courses on her transcript (she already has exam scores for 4 AP scores).
While we are all living in the UK at the moment, we are renting and are maintaining our home in Oregon and consider that to be our permanent address. She could most likely use this year as a “year abroad” exchange kind of program and resume her schooling back at her high school (Redmond Proficiency Academy), if in the end that makes more sense. I think the one school she is interested in Oregon is Reed. We have been thinking about WUE (thank you for bringing that up).
As I explained, she is here in the UK because her father has dual citizenship. The intent was to come to England to study and possibly aim for residency. We started on this venture before Brexit ever existed. In that we were already in the throes of setting it up, decided we should come over, for at least a year and see how we all liked it. I retired from my job in Oregon and my husband is exercising his Irish treaty rights.
US colleges know the IB Diploma. Pick any college and search for it and IB and you will see what kind of credits you get for an IB Diploma. IB Diploma > AP Capstone Diploma at this point.
For example, my daughter went to SUNY Binghamton.
“Students in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program may receive up to 32 credits. To receive the full 32 credits, the following conditions must be met:
The IB Diploma must be completed with a score of 30 or more points; and
The student must complete at least three Higher Level exams with a score of 5 or higher.
Diploma holders who meet these conditions receive credit for their individual exam scores plus additional liberal arts elective credit to total 32 credits.”
She ended up graduating a year and a half early (with a couple summer/winter session courses). Or she could have studied abroad (but she did HS in Germany so that was her study abroad) or double majored or whatever.
@farmgirl1961 I’m also a US citizen living abroad and my daughter was in the same situation as yours. To echo what others have said, the IB is very well know by SLACs and well respected for the prep for college-level work that it provides. My daughter was accepted at a number of top schools (including Reed). Since she had not lived in the States, she attended a special orientation for international students but otherwise was considered a US student in the way the schools dealt with her application
Thanks Mintwood…so the colleges didn’t need a GPA or high school diploma? My daughter has a GPA that goes through 10th grade; she also has ACT and SAT scores (and she’s re-taking the SATs in May). She’s just really worried that not having the US high school diploma will be a detriment (and on the admission pages of the colleges it does state “high school diploma”).
I think it could be so helpful if my daughter could connect with other American students who are in a similar situation. I think at the moment all of this is causing her a bit of stress.
we are renting and are maintaining our home in Oregon and consider that to be our permanent address<<<<<<
Just make sure that will work for Oregon residential instate assessment. If you all stay in the UK for her senior year you will have lived overseas for 2 yrs (or more). Again, if it is important to you for your instate schools or WUE $$, you need more than your opinion on the matter. If your DD is spending her senior year in the UK you will get scrutinized. Heck, you will get scrutinized, period. You are renting out your Oregon home?
Admission (outside of your obvious reaches) isn't really the problem, she is perhaps an interesting student assuming she does hit her IBD out of the park (by UK standards) maybe make sure you have auto tution backups (e.g. UA) in case merit is your only option should you be disqualified from local tuition rates.
For tuition purposes, you have be ordinarily resident in the UK for the previous 3 years, and in my experience, you cannot change status- that is you can’t go from international to home status once enrolled. If you hear differently, please post it- it is useful information (it may also vary by institution).
As for Cambridge, most people seem to feel that the IB target is harder to reach than either A level or AP - but it really matters which one your daughter finds better (same as SAT or ACT- one just might suit her better than the other). However, if the secondary school she is attending in the UK is well known to Cambridge that could help.
Brown provides need-based aid- you can run the NPC on their website to get an idea of what they would see your ‘need’ as being. Cambridge actually does have some money for international students- there used to be a CC poster who got a good amount- but really you can’t count on it.
On a side note, you refer a couple of times to your husband ‘exercising his Irish treaty rights’. That is an unusual phrasing and not strictly accurate: he is exercising his rights as an EU citizen. There is an assumption in Ireland that some sort of special arrangement with the Irish will continue to allow for the Irish to stay in the UK (as they could before there was an EU), but that arrangement does not exist yet.
Also, does your daughter have an Irish passport? If not she should get that organized.
As our daughter was born before my husband got his Irish passport, she (as far as we can figure out) cannot get that organized. If you know differently, please let us know. It is good to know that one can’t go from international to home status…
“You do not need an Irish passport in order to be an Irish citizen but having an Irish passport is evidence that you are an Irish citizen.”
It depends how your husband got his citizenship- through his parents / grandparents? and where they were born. If either of his parents was born in Ireland, she is eligible whether or not he had claimed his citizenship before she was born.