<p>My mom has the resources to pay for the full 4 years of college, however since she is single and also has to pay for my sister's university, I wan't to get financial aid to lessen her burden. however I know from wikipedia that all american universities (besides Yale) are not need-blind to international applicant, meaning that when they are indecisive about admitting an international student, they will look at whether you have applied for aid to help make a decision. I am scared about this, because I do want to go to some of my lower chance schools. My mom tells me it's alright to forgo financial and that I should apply for that for sophomore year. My question is, can I do that? are universities students who don't have aid in freshman year allowed to apply for it the second year? Is applying for financial aid (for international students) really risky when a university is not sure wheter to accept you or not?</p>
<p>I’m unsure about aid rules for international students. If you were a U.S. citizen, you would not qualify for aid because your mother has enough money. I have not heard of schools using aid as a basis for admission. Wikipedia often has lies, as it can be changed by anyone. You can apply for aid sophomore year after not applying freshman year.</p>
<p>Some schools have a policy that if you did not apply for financial aid as a freshman, you then cannot apply for aid again until you reach 60 credits, or junior year.</p>
<p>Beolein is wrong on several counts. Of course you can apply for financial aid for sophomore year, but unless your family’s financial circumstances undergo a serious change between freshman and sophomore year, it is unlikely you will be able to get financial aid after being accepted on a full-pay basis–surely you can see that everyone would pull this trick if it were so easy to do. In addition, it is indeed true that many colleges are “need aware”, particularly for internationals, meaning your financial aid status is taken into account in the admissions decisions. However Yale is not the only college that is need-blind (you need to do better research than using Wikipedia). Most international students are full pay–they are an important revenue source for colleges.</p>
<p>FA policies vary by school, you need to go to the college websites to find out if you have to apply for FA as a fr in order to be eligible in future years.</p>
<p>Agree that wiki, or any other generalized source can give you bad information. You need to go directly to the college websites to find out whether they are need-aware for Intl applicants and other policies. </p>
<p>Look at threads on the FA & Scholarships and Intl. Students forums, there are many discussions of Intl. admissions and FA.</p>