What is my need?

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>I have just now started to fill out the International student Financial Aid Application provided by Collegeboard and I am afraid of being viewed as a pretty rich student applying, since I need at least 30-35 k dollars every year to even consider studying in the USA.</p>

<p>My parents have their own company and their income this year is a little less than 100 k $, but during the last 4 years we had 15 k $ as a yearly income. We live in an apartment worth 2 mil $ and that is basically all assets we own (the mortgage on our apartment is 619 k $). We have about 15 k $ in savings, but that is it.</p>

<p>How will the colleges I am applying to view our financial need? I am applying to Dickinson C, Franklin and Marshall C, Gettysburg C, Depauw U and St. Lawrence U by the way. My parents will not help financially at all, but I can get about 20 k $ loans more or less from the State every year. Do they care if my parents will not help financially or do they just make their decisions based on our numbers?</p>

<p>Has anyone been in a similar situation or just know how the financial aid offices think at these colleges? Would very much appreciate any help I can get with this.</p>

2

<p>

Need-based aid is based on the numbers you provide. If your parents are not willing to make their contribution, that’s your problem, not the college’s. (Otherwise every student would apply to college saying, “I’m sorry but my parents are not willing to help out. Can you give me more aid?”) </p>

<p>Have you tried working through an EFC calculator (e.g. the one provided by Collegeboard)? That might give you a first impression how much aid you might qualify for, based on the numbers alone. </p>

<p>If you have strong SAT or ACT scores, you might also consider applying for academic scholarships. However, you may be able to attend better universities in Europe than the universities who’d give you merit scholarships in the US.</p>

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<p>Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.</p>

<p>I have used the calculators and have gotten results of 42 k as well as 37 k which both would be satisfactory.</p>

<p>Would I qualify for merit aid with only 2000 in SAT (1400 M + CR) at F & M, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Depauw or St. Lawrence or is that too wishful thinking on my side? I would get into great schools here in Sweden, but I miss the US so much since I lived there as a child. I am even considering to apply to Santa Barbara City College if I am not accepted elsewhere.</p>

<p>Thanks for your reply and I have very much respect for your posts!</p>

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<p>I don’t know off the top of my head if those colleges award academic scholarships at all, and if so, how selective those would be. There are definitely colleges that would give you a full-tuition scholarship for an SAT score of 1400 (e.g. [here[/url</a>] or [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.columbiasc.edu/admissions/financial-aid/first-year-scholarships]here[/url]”&gt;Scholarships & Grants | Columbia College]here](<a href=“Link not found - Rebrandly”>Link not found - Rebrandly)</a>) but it may not be in your best interest to attend them. The academic curriculum varies <em>dramatically</em> between American colleges, and may be several notches below what you’d expect from a university in Europe…</p>