<p>I've always thought that as a US Perm Resident, I wouldn't be counted as an international student ... </p>
<p>but after sending my preAapp to Washington University St Louis, they sent me an information packet for International applicants. On the Int. financial aid application there was a section for Permanent Residents. </p>
<p>So now I'm confused and a little worried (and a little annoyed) because I have been living here since I was one. Is this different at every college?</p>
<p>yikes! i thought green card holders were treated as equal to US citizens...i would call WUSTL again to clarify the situation....that is one strange situation.</p>
<p>Could that be a mix-up? Did you call to confirm?</p>
<p>They might just send it out to all non-US citizens</p>
<p>I think it was sent by mistake.</p>
<p>for federal student aid, you must be a US citizen or permanent resident:</p>
<p>U.S. Citizen or National
The term "U.S. citizen" includes citizens of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. All U.S. citizens are considered to be U.S. nationals. However, not all nationals are U.S. citizens: natives of American Samoa and Swains Island are not U.S. citizens but are nationals.
U.S. Permanent Resident
A lawful permanent resident (LPR) is a noncitizen who is legally permitted to live and work in the United States permanently. The standard documentation for a permanent resident of the United States is the Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551, since 1997) or Resident Alien Card (Form I-551, before 1997). Both forms are referred to colloquially as "green cards," though they are not green. However, the older Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-151, issued prior to June 1978) remains acceptable as evidence of permanent residence for the purpose of receiving FSA funds. Permanent residents may also present an Arrival/Departure Record (Form I-94) with one of the following endorsements:
Processed for I-551
Temporary Form I-551
The I-94 will have an A-Number annotated on it and is an acceptable document as long as the expiration date has not passed. </p>
<p>I doubt they figure their financial aid differently.</p>
<p>J. I can understand that you are confused about your application status because each institution has its own policy. WUSTL sent you the international package because it considers U.S. permanent residents as well as U.S. non-citizens to be in the international applicant pool. </p>
<p>Who is considered an international student?</p>
<pre><code>* An international student at Washington University is a citizen or permanent resident of a country other than the United States, who will be studying in the United States on a temporary visa.
</code></pre>
<p>Green card holders don't need a visa to study in the US.</p>
<p>Parabella, you hit on the major point of confusion on the WUSTL site - the wording is ambiguous and so is the placement of the comma - if the key word is "or" - an international student is ether a citizen or a permanent resident of a country other than the U.S. - that would include students holding a green cards because they are citizens of another country that is not the U.S. That would be why the international packet was sent to the OP and why there is a section for U.S. permanent residents on the financial aid form.</p>
<p>The wording in the WUSTL bulletin is more to the point: "If you are a citizen of another country or are in the United States on a visa ... " Given the particular circumstances of the OP it might be worth a shot to call the admissions office and find out if there are loopholes in their defintion of what defines an international student. WUSTL has their own way of looking at things or so it seems - last year a dual national American applied from our overseas school and was put in the international applicant pool.</p>
<p>That would have implication on admission as the success rate for the international applicant pool is usually lower than that for the domestic applicant pool. But at least for federal financial aid, they are treated the same.</p>
<p>Does it occur to anyone that WUSL may be trying to boost its cosmopolitan image, and therefore goosing its "international student" numbers? From an admissions standpoint, that may even be an advantage. The real issue is going to be with financial aid, and THAT's what's worth a call to the financial aid office. But given that lawful permanent residents of the US qualify for federal financial assistance, it's not clear at all that you will be treated as "international" for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>This is the first time I hear about permanent residents being considered international applicants. My S was applying as a green card holder to a numder of schools, public and private, and all of them considered him a regular applicant( we actually called admissions to make sure) .</p>
<p>"who will be studying in the United States on a temporary visa."</p>
<p>I think WUSTL just made a mistake. Since they define internationals as those who will need a temp. visa to study in the US, a permanent resident would then obviously not be labeled as an international since he/she doesn't need a visa.</p>
<p>thanks for all of the replies!</p>
<p>Maybe they got confused because we got just got our green card a couple of months ago (So we became residents a few months ago), but I wrote down my alien number and I've been working regularly on my work permit .. soo I hope that they made a mistake or there is loophole or something</p>
<p>I'm planning on calling them tomorrow to see where I stand. </p>
<p>Just wondering, but are the standards for what counts as an "international" student different at each college? Should I just call all of the colleges I plan on applying to to make sure?</p>
<p>Or does anybody knows whether I would be a regular applicant at the schools that I'm planning to apply to (so far) : Stanford, University of Rochester, Rensselaer PolyTech Institute</p>
<p>I guess I'm just really worried about financial aid (I havent told my parents about this so that they wouldnt freak out until I was sure).. because I'm eligible for a scholarship at Rochester and I won the Rensselaer medal.. but for my reach schools (Stanford and WashU) .. I'm pretty much going to be dependent on FinAid and Fafsa and maybe the occasional lucky scholarship</p>
<p>Thanks again for all of the help! This is the most honest and informative response I've gotten on CC =]</p>
<p>jenuinex26,
Our situation was a lot like yours, when S applied. After we recieved his GC, we immediately notified the admissions and faxed them the copy of the GC. That was enough to make sure his status was not "international" and make him eligible for federal FinAid.</p>
<p>JHS: great points - and WUSTL might well be playing with their international applicant pool numbers. Also, as you point out, in a case like this in which the college has a broad definition of "international student", each applicant has to be proactive and make an informed decision about what competitive pool they want to be part of. This is an important choice because most of the time this decision does affect financial aid, not to mention application fee waiver status. Re: financial aid, Stanford is one of the few schools that comes right out and says that internationals and domestic applicants are given almost the same consideration. So, bottom line is that permanent residents and dual nationals have to check each school's site to find out exactly what policy line is followed, and then, if there is any doubt, like Parabella, follow up with a call to the admissions office.</p>
<p>Jejuinex26, another question for you. Since you only recently got your green card that may be part of the confusion, yet you say you lived in the U.S. since you were an infant. Okay, so can we assume you came in and out of the country on non-immigrant visas? Also, key question - where did you spend most of your life in school - abroad or in the U.S.? If you attended secondary school in the U.S. for several years it seems absurd for you to have to take the TOEFL - unless you score low on verbal standardized tests, in which case, it might be to your advantage. </p>
<p>As you can see, there are no hard and fast answers to your question simply because there are many nuances - and even loopholes - regarding international status and what applicant pool you might belong in. To a certain degree, which applicant pool you best belong to is a matter of choice on your side - by that I mean that there is a certain amount of wiggle room at some institutions. Also, keep in mind that the admissions office and financial aid office are working on completely different aspects of your application and at some institutions there isn't much communication between offices - with a green card you should be eligible for domestic financial aid consideration at most places.</p>
<p>I posted on a similar topic several months ago. My son was born in another country where he lived for only the first 4 months of life. Since I, his mother, am a US citizen who was temporarily living abroad at that time, he is an American citizen by birth. But he is also a citizen of the country where he was born. So when he applied to colleges, on the common app. he checked the box that indicated that he had dual citizenship. Thereafter he received international student mailings from most of the schools. This concerned us for the reason of acceptance rates cited above, and also since he's an ordinary American with nothing to offer as far as cultural diversity so as to make the adcoms want to accept him over a true foreigner who grew up somewhere else. We didn't know whether we should try to correct this categorization or not. Our guidance counselor felt the diversity factor would help him, not hurt him, so we left it alone. We also thought the same thing about the colleges wanting to advertise a diverse student body, since Yale, for example, did publish stats on who their early decision applicants were and there was 1 student listed from his small country, which we assumed had to be him since Yale had sent him foreign student stuff.</p>
<p>We can't say for sure whether this label hurt him or not, but I will say that students and faculty at his HS were shocked that my S didn't get in to certain schools where in previous years Hispanic applicants of much lower caliber were accepted from the same HS.</p>
<p>"Does it occur to anyone that WUSL may be trying to boost its cosmopolitan image, and therefore goosing its "international student" numbers?"</p>
<p>Only if they sent at the same time another copy of the glossy promotional viewbook to add to the four you already have.</p>
<p>JHS:</p>
<p>many Colleges play this game</p>