I have applied to the most prestigious universities in the US, Like I have applied to all the Ivy League universities.
Now it’s time to submit the CSS Profile for financial aid. I am an international student from a developing country.
In my country taxation system is not too strong and then people don’t have faith in government so most of the people avoid tax and show less income than real income to the tax department.
Same is the case with my parents. Our annual income is almost 12-15k$, but my father shows an income of 4k$ on which there is no tax.
Now I don’t know whether I should be honest with the universities and mention the whole scenario in CSS explanation or
Shall I go with my father’s tax income and tell only the income which is mentioned on tax file of latest year, the 4k$.
P.S: I know this is wrong and unlawful and I am against it but this is my parent’s decision.
? Hopeful to score? You’re waiting for scores? You applied before knowing your score?
While it’s important to be honest, I’m not sure that even an income of $15k will make much difference. that’s too low for ivies to likely expect a contribution. You can put the other part as untaxed income.
BTW…I think this is one reason why many schools don’t give aid to int’ls. It’s too hard for the schools to verify income. There was a Greek student here on CC who said that it’s the same there. His family is quite affluent, but only reports a small income, so he got full aid here from a top school.
Yes, hopeful. I will get my scores on 11 February. almost every institute accept scores of January SAT but consider you for round 2
well, I don’t think that 15k$ per anum is considered an income of an affluent family. fees for most Universities are like 40-70k$ per anum. I can’t afford this fee even if my family sell its whole assets, gold, etc.
Frankly, I don’t think it will matter, because $15K is well under the threshold for these schools for full support. If it were a difference of reporting $15K or $70K you’d have a dilemma, but because it won’t make a material difference in this case I’d report whatever number your family’s tax documents will support. It sounds like that’s $4K.
I don’t like this advice. Questions on the Profile form should be answered honestly and accurately, even if fudging won’t make a material difference. I agree with the suggestion offered above by Madison85: report the $4,000 that was claimed as taxable, and also report on Profile as untaxed income the $8,000 - $11,000 that was not disclosed on the tax form.
Guys this is what I am doing. advice whether am i going the right way or should I make any changes.
In the explanation section, I am sending this message.
“Our families annual income is almost 12lac to 15lac. and after expenses we almost save 3 lacs per anum. my elder brother is now mostly managing our family business and my father just contribute a little bit to the business. In the Pakistan mainstream of people try to avoid the tax as much as possible and sadly my father is among the same group of people. he just reports an income of 4.5 lacs to the tax authorities. and my brother is not registered for an NTN number or income tax return so he is also avoided from tax. in fact, from last 5 years, my father is also not paying the tax. However when I asked him for the tax returns to complete CSS application for financial need, I just got to know about all these things my father and brother is doing for many years. I am completely against it and consider it illegal. so I insisted him to start paying tax. till now I am only able to convince him to pay income tax on an income of 4.5 lacs. I think that I shouldn’t be responsible for doings of my family and my profile should be considered in the same way for financial need assistance. I can provide you the income tax returns for my father in 3-4 days and bank statements for my brother’s bank account in 2-3 days My father is not using his bank account from last 2 years, so it is no deactivated. To be honest, our family is not having any exact idea about our family expenses. but I tried my level best to give you an approx estimate of our expenses. I hope that informal way of living in most of the Pakistani families will not be a reason for not receiving financial aid.”
I have mentioned total income as 12k$ and taxable income as 4500$.
I wouldn’t do this at all. I think you should take Madison85’s advice. List the $4000 as taxable income…because that is what it is…and the rest under untaxed income.
Your explanation clearly says your family is being dishonest regarding their income to your country. Colleges here don’t care at all that this might be the norm in your country. It’s not the norm here.
And colleges frown on dishonesty…all kinds of dishonestly. I just can’t imagine what you think you will gain by including this explanation.
So…just put the taxed and untaxed incomes on that Profile. That is being truthful.
Leave off the explanation entirely. Most of what you have written in it either highlights your family dishonesty, or talks about things unrelated to YOUR financial aid.
@mom2collegekids yes. I have listed those gold assets. @thumper1: yes, I was also feeling that it is too wordy, thanks for the piece of advice. What do you say, shall I trim it or completely subtract it from the application?
Guys, it may go a little off the topic but as you guys are already aware of my financial circumstances. Moreover, I am a first generation student so spending money on education is the last thing my family wants me to do right now.
So is there any way that I can get fee waivers for CSS Profile which are called “Fee Payment Codes”.
It’s ironic that I was exempted from paying the application fee on commonapp due to low income but I need to pay the CSS Profile application fee which is meant to be for determining financial aid [which is in most cases required to low-income students]
P.S: It may sound stupid but I have applied to a total of 18 universities out of which 16 require CSS Profile which results in a hefty payment of almost 250$. Princeton is the only one that has its own financial aid application.
If you list the income and also the unearned income on the Profile, you will be listing ALL of your parent income, right? If you are listing all of their income…why would you need to include this explanation a at all.
Madison85 gave you good advice. List what is on your taxes as income…and the remainder of the income as untaxed income. Then you have included it all…and there is NO NEED for any explanation…at all.
@thumper1, Yes you are right and I am aware but financial aid offices of universities can provide you with fee waivers. I have received CSS Profile fee waiver from Williams College but other Universities are insisting on using paper-based application.
One of my friend got an SAT and SAT subject test Fee waiver from Harvard due to his financial hardships.
Another reason not to include the explanation is that your writing skill doesn’t appear to be at the level of students who are admitted to top schools.
How many students like the OP are being admitted by Ivy Leagues or any US university, for that matter, whether public or private? Why would this student believe there exists any chance of admission? I am sorry if that hurts the OP’s feelings, but is this for real? To the OP, honesty is always the best policy.
So if you know the colleges can provide waivers…contact the colleges and ask them. You already have that answer. I don’t think anyone here can give you a better one,
And I do hope you have a Plan B. The schools you are applying to (all of the Ivies, and the like) accept less than 10% of applicants, and likely 5% of international applicants.
In addition, some of those schools are need aware, so your ability to pay WILL be considered when your admissions application is reviewed.
Applying blindly (without known standardized test scores) is really not the best plan. How did you pay the application fees? Or did you ask for waivers for those too? And what about those SAT scores? Did you ask for waivers for those too?
I wondered the same thing as #16 - “Is this real?”
If so, it would seem to me that @Bunny936 is playing with fire. Does he want his father/brother to be punished by his own country? Or at the very least, his seems to be just asking for his local tax authority to investigate.