<p>How are you going to pay for college? </p>
<p>What is your major? Alabama would give you a merit scholarship for your stats, but you would have to pay for the rest. </p>
<p>Something doesn’t make sense. Your uncle could sponsor your family for residency.</p>
<p>I mean that our uncle gives us money every month so my dad can support the family. He doesn’t “earn” them by working. My mom told me that she and my dad will pay for it when they both “get” jobs in Korea. My uncle tried sponsoring for residency but apparently something didn’t work out so it failed. </p>
<p>Katsuii you should probably consult an attorney. Or at least your parents. Your situation sounds not straightforward.</p>
<p>@scholarme sorry if it’s not straightforward. I don’t know the answers to every question and all of this information is new to me so it’s quite confusing. I will talk to my parents about this.</p>
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<p>something isn’t adding up.</p>
<p>When are your parents leaving the US? </p>
<p>When are they getting jobs?</p>
<p>Once they leave, you have to leave, too. </p>
<p>What is the timeline?</p>
<p>How can your parents pay for college in Fall 2015? </p>
<p>Your current visa depends on them. If they leave within the next few months, you have to leave, too. </p>
<p>You can’t get a college education visa unless you can show that you have all costs covered.</p>
<p>Can you give us a time line of when things will happen? </p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year??</p>
<p>(wow, you have quite the generous uncle if he’s giving your family $70k per year!!)</p>
<p>The situation seems very straightforward to me. Family in US on student visa and being supported by uncle. Now the kid has grown to be college age. What is his status? </p>
<p>He is an international student just as many other students who have parents in the US working or doing whatever. It’s up to him to figure out what he needs to do to get his student visa as such. THe difference between him and those overseas is that that he is already in the country due to his parents being here. There are hundreds of such students here in the NY area and down the street from me, from many countries. SOme go to schools like the French American School, and other such schools that use a curriculum from the home country, some go to public or private schools like any American student. The difference is that the student is international.</p>
<p>As an international student, you don’t qualify for financial aid at some schools or for federal funds. Your state laws will determine whether you get instate rates for state schools or not. I don’t think so for PA. </p>
<p>Apply to whatever schools you wish making sure you have some safety schools that you know you can afford. A lot of this you have to discuss with your parents. You’ also need to see what you have to do to get a student visa. </p>
<p>If your uncle can help you that much financially, he should be able to find an immigration lawyer willing to look into this situation - that consultation may save you/him thousands and thousands of dollars. You are not undocumented, as far as I can tell, you are on a F2 visa (is that correct? Check with your parents) Or did they bring you to visit and you never left, so they’re on a visa but you’re undocumented?
“International students” are defined are those, regardless of where they are, who need a visa to study in the US. They don’t get any financial aid from most state schools.
You may have to take a gap year in order to sort out your situation. This would also give you the time to increase your test scores.
Look up fredjan on this website, he’s a student who was in your situation last year. (he took a gap year while his legal situation was sorted out.)</p>
<p>^Actually, better than fredjan, look up paul2752, who’s in exactly the same situation as you are, except without a wealthy uncle.</p>
<p>His situation may have some hiccups because it sounds like his parents are leaving the country soon, since he says that they will be paying for his education from jobs back in their home country. As soon as they leave, so does he…unless it happens after he goes to college and after he gets his education visa (which can take a LONG time to get).</p>
<p>It seems harder to get the status change visa than it does to get just an education visa. Paul2752 went to high school in Washington and was supposed to start college in August…but his change in status visa didn’t come thru in time…horrible…he had to leave his dorm and go home. He applied for the visa change about 5 months before classes started, but it STILL wasn’t processed in time. So, get yours going ASAP. I think you can apply for the change as soon as you have a college acceptance so get one ASAP.</p>
<p>However, if his parents do leave the country soon, so will he, and then his situation will be different.</p>
<p>Katsuii -</p>
<p>Your father is a student, and probably holds an F1 visa. This means that you and your mom both probably have F2 visas right now. In order to attend college, you will need to get your own F1 visa. That will require formal documentation that you and your family can cover the costs of your education. If you aren’t admitted to some place that offers you a huge scholarship package, your uncle may need to help out one more time. So discuss this with your parents too.</p>
<p>The rules are slightly different for people who hold J1 or M1 visas while studying in the US. If you find out that one of those is your situation, get advice about what to do about your status if you become a student in the US before your parents leave.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your help, I’ve learned a lot and hopefully I can go through this with ease and get in to the colleges I want to. As for my major, I’m going to major in engineering (no specific field yet) and I’m very thankful for my uncle. As for my VISA, I’ll talk to my parents about getting it changed as soon as possible, and leave the U.S in the summer and come back when school starts.</p>
<p>Is this true?
<p>Then I would think the following questions are pertinent:
<p>I believe the last question is the most important for you. If you need to go back home for an undetermined amount of time, that may be too late to start in Fall 2015 for some schools. And if you pick a few colleges in PA, for convenience (and was York College of PA mentioned? They are quite reasonable and have rolling admissions and are ABET-accredited for many progams), that might make your life easier.</p>
<p>I think trying to work with one school’s international students office would be your best bet. They would be familiar with visa issues.</p>
<p>Check this out, and look for international student pages for any universities you are interested in:
<a href=“International Students | York College of PA”>http://www.ycp.edu/admissions/international-students/</a></p>
<p>So forget about DACA - your initial post got us confused.</p>
<p>You don’t need to leave the US unless your parents have to leave.</p>
<p>If your parents are legally staying, you can as well, but you need to have your visa changed. You need to apply for the visa change once you have an acceptance. </p>
<p>Contact Paul, he’ll give you more information.</p>
<p>Yes. Paul will likely tell you his situation. He applied for the status change with what seemed to be a reasonable amount of time for the feds to process…but it didn’t get processed in time for fall classes.</p>
<p>So, this is what I would do…get at least one acceptance in hand ASAP, and then find out if you can start the process of applying for a visa status change. If you find out that you’re required to choose a school first, then try to do that as soon as you can.</p>
<p>I think it will be a big hiccup if you leave the US after graduation, go to your home country, and then apply for your visa. I think it won’t come thru in time. </p>
<p>I think a bigger hurdle is going to be PAYING for college. Your uncle has been generously supporting your family for 6-7 years at $70k per year. Unless he’s going to also hand-over $50k+ per year for you to go to college, then paying for college will be an issue. </p>
<p>If your parents return to your home country, they won’t be instantly earning enough to support themselves and pay for college.</p>
<p>who is this paul person?</p>
<p>Katsuii -</p>
<p>You cannot change an F2 (or J2 or M2) visa into an F1 on your own. You can only receive an F1 visa AFTER you have been accepted at the place where you will study, and after you have committed to that program. The college or university will send you a document called an I-20. If you have your F1 visa issued outside of the US, you will take the I-20 with you when you have your interview at the US consulate where your student visa is issued. I do not know what the steps would be if you need to have the visa changed without leaving the US. That would be a question to ask USCIS or the college/university that you decide to attend.</p>
<p>As others have mentioned above, the visa change takes time. You need to know if it can be done before you have to be at school in the fall. </p>
<p>paul2752 is a poster here at CC who like you was living in the US already when he applied to college as an international applicant. His F1 did not get processed in time, and he is waiting to start college in January. You should send him a PM, and get his advice so that you don’t have those same problems. To send him a PM, use the search function to find one of his posts, then click on his username, and follow the instructions.</p>
<p>no pitts says aid is not available to intl.
sucks…</p>
<p>I read this entire thread. </p>
<p>OP, you’ve done quite well. You have the ability to get a student VISA and since you are here legally, it shouldn’t be a huge problem. </p>
<p>You’ve likely not scored quite high enough to get good FinAid as an international student at the few colleges that provide it. </p>
<p>While you need to apply to some of these schools (Like I’d apply to Cornell Engineering ED, which is especially good with undocumented students), you also need to see what you can do at list price. </p>
<p>The lowest cost high quality engineering schools with low list prices (tuition, room and board) are probably
SUNY Buffalo - $33K
SUNY Stony Brook - $33K
University of Minnesota ~ $30K
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology ~$25K</p>
<p>Also, there is a bill circulating in the PA legislature to allow in-state tuition for dream act kids, so apply to Pitt, Temple and Penn State and hope the bill passes by April. </p>
<p>You might also be able to save some money using AP credit and CLEP. You need to carefully check which colleges give credit for CLEP, but some of the one’s I’ve mentioned do. </p>
<p>I believe that it’s also possible to go to University of Minnesota-Morris for your first year at $20K for your GenEds and get automatic transfer to the engineering school at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities if you get into your major. </p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
<p>CRD…where is this student going to get $25k to $30k a year to attend college? The student needs good aid as well as an acceptance someplace.</p>