Really lost regarding Financial Aid eligibility and pending Immigration Status

Paying for College
1

Hi everybody! So my immigration situation is really, really complex, but please allow me to explain my situation the best I can.

A citizen of South Korea, I’ve been living in the States for over 13 years, originally as a dependent of my parents’ work visa. In the summer of 2015, they became permanent citizens through family invitation (no, this did not automatically grant me a green card). When I applied to colleges in the fall of 2015, I was admitted into a handful (like USC, NYU) but was not granted enough financial aid at any of the schools.

So I moved to California this past summer (2016) and have been doing well at a Community College, making a 4.0 and getting highly involved in a number of extracurriculars. Still, as an “international” student, tuition here is still barely affordable for me and my family, so I’ve been looking into private schools that I could transfer to as a sophomore with the prospect of entering as a sophomore in Fall 2017. I’d like to stay in California, but of course am not limiting myself strictly with location.

As of now, I have a pending adjustment of status to become a permanent resident through the i-485. I believe that I will be eligible to file for FAFSA once my i-131, or the travel permit, is approved. That should happen relatively soon.

Does anybody have any knowledge on this specific situation, or possibly have any recommendations for schools that are known for being financially generous to non-citizens?

Trying to keep my head high :slight_smile: Thank you in advance for your inputs!

2

There is virtually no difference in the treatment of students by colleges between a GC holder and a Citizen. However, you would count as a transfer student for whom the financial aid may be minimal at most schools.

The main difference between a greencard holder and an international student is whether you are eligible for student loans and whether you can qualify for residency of the state where your parents are located since you have been primarily a student for the past year. This will give you lower tuition at state schools.

3

Your problem now is that you’ll be a transfer student and they usually get inadequate aid. Frankly, it would have been better if you had not started college, and could apply as an incoming freshman once you had green card status.

Where does your family live? California? Or another state?

4

Does your family live in Tenn?


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Tennessee <<

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You seem to be making a few bad decisions. It seems that you’re going to a Calif CC with the hopes of going to a UC. You’re OOS for UCs and you didn’t go to a Calif high school. There’s no aid for you at a UC.

If your parents live in Tenn, then you need to go back there and get the better rates.

5

Thank you for your response. I was not able to take a gap year because my F-1 status required me to be continuously studying to maintain my legal status. I am also aware that most states schools have legal limitations on giving students, which is why I intend to apply to privates that are known for being generous with financial aid to international students. My sister goes to Pomona College, and they have met 100% of her need and more.

My parents live in Ohio, and I was accepted to OSU after high school as well, but they refused to allow in-state tuition rates because I was no longer a dependent of my parents’ work visas; again, because they became permanent residents when I did not.

So far, this is the most logical place for me to be. Once I get my green card and establish residency – which I have already worked toward by moving out by myself, registering my car under my own name, and getting a California driver’s license, I can apply to UC’s as a junior transfer. The reason why I am trying to transfer out this year is because even Community College is more expensive than a private school education, where financial aid is given based upon need.

6

You cannot establish California residency for the UCs and for CSUs if you attended a community college as an OOS because you came to California for educational purposes.

It doesn’t matter that you have a California Drivers license, car registration and moved out. You needed to have established residency prior to having attended any institution by working, full time for two years, in the state of California without having attending any college.

http://www.ucop.edu/general-counsel/_files/ed-affairs/uc-residence-policy.pdf

Since you registered immediately and attended a Community college, you came for educational purposes and any UC/CSU will continue to charge you OOS rates. So if you transfer to a UC, you will be paying $55K per year.

According to your information here, you have NOT provided a sufficient tax base to the state of California to qualify for any state school’s in-state funding. Working a minimum wage part-time job, while going to school doesn’t do it.

The state knows all of the tricks. It doesn’t matter what the CC charged. Because you wanted to qualify for your F-1 status by continuously attending school, you did not stop to work full time to pay California state taxes, so you can’t qualify as a California resident.

Also, because you are an undergraduate, and your parents reside in another state, that is a big red flag and the schools recognized that you are not in California for other than educational purposes.

It is really difficult to establish residency in California for California public schools. You can’t have had ANY financial help from anyone including parents and family members.

The Residency committee asks for your residency determination date, 540 tax forms from that date, budget, market rate rental fees, w2 forms from a California business, expenses and your filed California state tax forms for the past two years. Your budget has to match your earned income. They won’t grant residency without proof and students are rarely granted residency because students have found that they cannot independently support themselves and pay market rate rents without help from parents or family.

The state of California is out of money. They are very aware of students from every other state trying to beat the system to get cheap instate tuition vs. parents and families who have been paying expensive California state taxes for years prior to their children attending state schools.

If you go to a private, residency doesn’t matter.

7

Why don’t you go to Pomona if it has worked out so well for your sister?

8

It’s what I’m aiming for, but Pomona takes roughly 10-20 transfers a year from the entire world.

9

Could you explain why your parents were granted citizenship status without you? If you were dependent on your parents at the time, then why wouldn’t dependent children be granted the same thing? Sorry I don’t know much about US immigration law.

10

@sgopal2 It was because they applied through my other sister who is a citizen, through invitation. Through that method, I do not automatically get granted a green card. It’s immigration policy :frowning:

11

Couldn’t you commute to a CC in Ohio or attend an instate university there once your parents are residents of Ohio?

12

Have you considered Penn LPS or Columbia School of General Studies. They are designed for non traditional students, mostly older. But they are both need blind and might be generous with financial aid. I don’t know if they accept transfers though.

13

Congratulations on the 4.0 - as a transfer, it’ll help.
You won’t qualify for instate status in California because you attended community college there (unless you took 6 credits or fewer per term.)
As a transfer, you no longer qualify for major aid at most colleges.
So your best bet is to find a state that would consider you 'instate ’ rather easily. I know Missouri, Minnesota, New York, and Utah have policies where, if a permanent resident or citizen works for a year, they’ll be granted state residency.
In any case, you have to wait till your paperwork is processed to apply to a university. hitch puts you in another pickle since most deadlines for teenagers are between February and March.
Only about 10-20 universities out of 3,700 are as generous as Pomona.