<p>I have a friend in the Philippines that's trying to apply for a masters school for advertising. Does she qualify to apply for the FAFSA while in the Philippines or would she need to be in the US in order to apply for it? Or does she need to be accepted by the school first? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>US citizens and certain non-citizens file FAFSA for Federal financial aid.</p>
<p>If she is a U.S. Citizen, she can file the FAFSA online from anywhere. The FAFSA for the 2015-2016 school year won’t be available until January 1, 2015. And she should try to complete that form ASAP after that date.</p>
<p>When will she be enrolling in college.</p>
<p>You don’t apply FOR FAFSA. You apply THROUGH FAFSA. FAFSA is the application for federal aid for US citizens. Schools also use the application to determine their own financial aid.</p>
<p>I don’t know when but she has three more months left before graduating in her university in the Philippines. </p>
<p>Is she a US citizen?</p>
<p>No she is not :(</p>
<p>Then she won’t be able to use FAFSA. If she wants to get a Masters degree in the US she’ll need to find out what documentation the school will require.</p>
<p>If she is not a U.S. Citizen, she cannot receive federally funded need based aid, including federally funded loans. She is NOT eligible to complete the FAFSA.</p>
<p>She will need to look on the college websites for information about international student financial aid…and she also needs to understand that some colleges do NOT give aid to international students at all, some give limited aid, and some give the same aid as for citizens.</p>
<p>AND most financial aid for graduate school is merit aid. It is based on the strength of the application and the college’s desire to have you as part of their grad school cohort. Aid for grad school comes in the form of assistantships, scholarships, grants, and for U.S citizens…federal loans and sometimes work study.</p>
<p>Your friend will either need to get a merit award or try to find funding in the Phillipines for her studies in the U.S. She will be unable to take a loan here unless she has a cosigner who is qualified for the loan amount AND is a U.S. Citizen.</p>
<p>What does she plan to study? Some grad school programs have funding, and others simply do not!</p>
<p>Thanks thumper1. She plans to study advertising.</p>
<p>There are not many grad programs with full funding for advertising degrees. It is possible she could get a stipend position but they are not plentiful in this field.</p>
<p>Is she extremely fluent in English, because this will be a consideration as well.</p>