The state of Alabama voted 62% for former President Trump in 2020 with 56.9% of Tuscaloosa county voting for Trump.
In a prior post you mentioned you are from India and “i’m very unaware of the college landscape abroad and i thought some advice would be nice.”.
I hope this provides you with some political context as your comments suggest it matters to you. You should also be aware that Alabama has less than 600 kids who self describe themselves as Asian amongst a community of more than 38,000 would not.
And guess what - OP needs to go to a school they can afford and most every college will have similar organizations - see the link . Most kids are not involved politically and OP is coming for an education and can have many choices but will need to pick those schools willing to educate at a price the family can afford. And those I mentioned may even be too expensive.
Rather than dissuade from opportunities to put in debt hell let’s provide those that can work.
I am assuming your child is a US citizen and has permission to work in the US and you all live in California and are not asking for significant financial aid? For non-residents and international students, establishing residency in California is almost impossible.
California is the last state that should be recommended to a non-resident, international student who is on a budget and is seeking financial aid. There is no financial aid for international students in the California public universities. They pay full freight of $67K per year.
An international student cannot establish residency in the State of California. An entering international student is on a student visa and would not be granted a work visa which is needed to work and establish residency.
As an international student, this student is NOT allowed to bypass immigration rules and work in the state. If it were that easy, the state would be overwhelmed with hopeful international employees and OOS residents. Out of state residents are beating down the door now to try to get instate residency.
Full fees are expected at $67K per year for people who do not live nor pay taxes in California. There is no financial aid for non-residents. I don’t know of any student, without a degree, who could legally work at a job, for 2 years in California, and get paid $134K for two years to meet the costs of a UC.
If he/she arrives to the state and immediately begins classes, then that student has arrived for educational purposes and could not establish residency.
You missed the point that I was making. The OP should at least look at CC, then transfer to a four year school as a way to make her smaller overall budget stretch further. I was using ÇA as an example of a state that gives priority to those students to feed into a myriad of academically strong 4 year schools. There are other lower cost of living states offering similar paths.
The OP needs a student visa, period, full stop. Any scheme which has a student showing up without a plan to pay for a four year degree is a risky one… either the student can’t get the visa at all, because the money isn’t there when the application is made, or the student gets the visa but has to go home when the money runs out, or the student tries to “make it work” by getting a job under the table (i.e. working illegally in violation of the terms of a student visa) and risks getting deported.
You may have been making a point- but unless you have an example of a low cost of living state which would provide enough financial aid upfront so that the student could legitimately apply for a visa, your point isn’t a helpful one. You need to show- down the dollar- that you have the financing already in place- before the visa will be issued. We all know students in the US who figure it out on the fly- but that option is not available to someone who is here on a student visa.
This would be a safety academically, but it would be a reach for the amount of aid you would need, but you may want to consider Simmons, a women’s college in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the more liberal states in the U.S. International students are eligible for merit aid, and are eligible to compete for the Kotzen Scholarship full ride (tuition, room & board, and $3k for additional pursuits).
These are safeties for admissions and I suspect have a decent chance to meet your budget.
Montclair State in New Jersey also has merit aid available for international students. I would run the Net Price Calculator and (if it asks for GPA and SAT scores) see what the numbers look like. New Jersey is not as liberal as Massachusetts, but women’s bodily autonomy is still preserved there.
Northern Illinois: Merit aid opportunities, including separate options to go towards tuition and toward housing. It appears that with the top scholarships you would still be left with about $11k/year here, unless they stack additional opportunities.
With respect to targets, I’d take a look at:
Scripps (CA): Women’s college
Smith (MA): Women’s college
Occidental (CA)
St. Olaf (MN)
Bryn Mawr (PA ): Women’s college
St. Lawrence (NY)
Dickinson (PA )
All of those schools offer financial aid (merit and/or need-based) to international students and they tend to meet most of the financial need, as they define it There are a number of women’s colleges because admissions at those schools are often less competitive than at schools with similar student profiles. These schools aren’t need-blind, but you’re a strong applicant and you don’t need an entirely free ride. There are no guarantees, but I suspect you’d probably get accepted to at least one.
Would you consider a historically black university?
Howard University would not be a safety due to your non-resident status but your stats make you competitive for admissions and scholarships/financial aid. It is located in Washington DC so a great location for anyone interested in poli sci.
These 43 schools meet 100% of financial need (as they define it), offer financial aid (merit and/or need-based) to international students, are in liberal-leaning states, have swimming programs, and poli sci majors. There are 61 schools that meet 90+% of financial need with the same parameters as just described.
That particular site does not allow me to distinguish between varsity swim teams and club swim teams, but if you browse through on the Campus Life section, you can see what level of swimming it is. Most of the schools are probably going to be D3, which means that they are not allowed to offer athletic scholarships. Many of those schools can offer other merit aid, however, and can meet your financial need (again, as they define it). These are the schools where I would start looking at their swim times to see if you would be competitive and reaching out to their swim coaches. The benefit of D3 is that if you get injured or decide you no longer want to swim, your financial aid is not contingent upon your swimming. That is not usually true for D1 or D2 schools.
In terms of admission University of Akron is a safety. They do offer some scholarships to international students based on merit. I don’t think they would get you to your budget unless you were able to land their full ride:
Akron International Scholars Award (AISA)
The Akron International Scholars Award (AISA) is a full tuition, room and board scholarship awarded to ONE new international freshman who demonstrates outstanding academic performance and significant financial need.
