<p>I go to Iowa State. Despite my long period of residence in the US, my family still doesn't have a greencard. Because my father's job has a correlation with the university, I get to pay instate tuition. So here's my problem.</p>
<p>All international students, except me, have to pay out of state tuition, which is 2-3x as much as instate. Even if I have a nice GPA and an eloquent personal statement on my application, the international student office distributes its scholarships on a financial need basis. They see that everyone has to pay 16k/yr, and I only have to pay 8k/yr, they'll obviously throw my applicatiion into the recycling bin.</p>
<p>I applied this year, and I doubt I'll get sh** from the university. Should I even bother applying the following years? Are there other scholarship opportunities I can look into? I've tried fastweb, but that website is useless to me because I'm not eligible for ANY of them.</p>
<p>I'd like to get at least SOME help paying the bills, because I'm tired of living at home. I already have 2 jobs. advice please.</p>
Financial need is determined by the difference between what you can afford and what you have to pay. Just because your bill is lower does not necessarily mean that your need is.</p>
<p>If you don’t apply, your chances of getting a scholarship are zero. Zip. Nada. Nothing. Applying is free. What’s there to lose?</p>
<p>That aside, it sounds like you have not even been notified about this year’s decision yet. Why so pessimistic?</p>
<p>last year, when I applied for international scholarships, they didn’t contact me whatsoever. When I applied for an essay scholarship at my school, I was not contacted. When I applied for the scholarships in the college of engineering, I was not contacted. When I emailed someone about distributing information on scholarships for which students like me are eligible, I was setup to meet with a guy who wasted 30 minutes of my life telling me how there’s limited resources for the bulk of international students, who by the way, are pretty smart (ON PAPER). When I applied for college in high school, I was rejected by all the private schools. As you can see, my morale isn’t so great right now.</p>
<p>Sorry for the rant, anyways…</p>
<p>Technically, my family can afford my tuition. But it would be a huge relief if my tuition can be partially subsidized by scholarships. On my scholarship application, I honestly put that my parents can provide the money for all my current needs. Should I have done it differently? Should I have put that my parents can only provide SOME money for my tuition, and leave a gap there for them to fill?</p>
<p>I am sorry! I wish you better luck next year.</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t recommend to lie but you can certainly present the facts in your favor. Stress how much your family is struggling to put you through college and paint a rosy picture of what a scholarship would mean to you. If you (or your parents) are currently working a crazy amount of hours or undesirable jobs, you could argue that a scholarship would allow you to focus on academics or gain more experience in a more relevant (though lower-paid) position. Stuff like that.</p>
<p>that’s exactly what I said on the last scholarship application. But then again, it may not come down to the personal appeal. I was told that a lot of the Chinese students get 4.0s, and that 3.8 or below is not really considered competitive enough. I currently have a 3.5</p>
<p>I guess my only choice right now is to raise that GPA and try again… Either that or get myself a lucrative internship.</p>