<p>Dreamin…you say you have never lived in the U.S. Are your parents U.S. citizens also…or just you? I believe this would have an impact on whether THEY needed to file a U.S. tax return. Also if you have lived abroad for over a certain number of years, you lose expatriate status…in other words you are a resident of the country in which you reside (but you can still maintain your citizenship here).</p>
<p>That doesn’t matter a speck for college applications purposes, but it might with regard to filing tax returns for your parents. You need to find out if they are required to file a U.S. tax return…if they are, and they haven’t, they will need to reconcile this before you apply for financial aid here.</p>
<p>BUT as others have mentioned, it sounds like with your EFC, you would not qualify for federal aid in excess of the Stafford loan (unsubsidized).</p>
<p>Another little school that is not spoken of often and has great cost is York College in Pennsylvania. Cost of attendance is modest and they do offer merit aid. It’s a LAC.</p>