I’m an international student living in the USA. My parents can only afford to pay $12k per year, so I desperately need a scholarship.
I have a 34 on the ACT, a 3.77 UW GPA, and stellar extracurriculars.
Can someone please suggest colleges where I might receive merit aid?
University of Alabama. I believe with the guaranteed scholarship you would receive, plus $12,000 a year, you would have your costs covered.
@mom2collegekids can you give the details?
Thank you, @thumper1. I know UAlabama is often mentioned here on CC for good merit scholarships. The main issue here is that I moved to the USA as a freshman, so my freshman grades really suck (because of the drastic changes in life). But I have an upward trend with rigorous schedules. Also, I’m here on a visa which makes me an international student. Do you know if merit scholarships are available for international students too?
University of Alabama scholarships are available to international students.
What will your GPA be at the end of your junior year of HS?
Thumper is right…Alabama’s award is available to int’ls, but apply well before Dec. The app opens in July, apply THEN.
What would this student be guaranteed to get…assuming his end of junior year GPA is what is stated above?
My end of junior year GPA will be about 3.78 Unweighted.
Here are my full stats:
**Background info: My family came to the USA in early 2013. I will be applying as an international student even though I live in the states because I haven’t received a green card yet and am on a visa. I have applied for asylum and am waiting for a decision. I suffered from violence based on religious differences in my home country (India); trying to gain refugee status through the asylum process. Here are my stats below:
ACADEMICS:
ACT: 34
(Didn’t take SAT)
SAT 2 Math level 2: 790
SAT 2 Physics: 790
GPA: 3.8 Unweighted
Upward trend as I did poorly immediately after arriving in the USA due to the sudden differences.
11 AP Classes by the time I graduate (rigorous schedules all four years).
EXTRACURRICULARS:
Taught myself how to code without any help
Have made and published software and apps, have over 250,000 users. Most of the apps are free but I do get some revenue.
(I spend hours every week coding and working on my software/app projects alone. I taught myself to code and build these myself, and invested lots of time learning to do so.)
Independently ported open-source software applications to the new QNX platform (apps got published in the store and are available for download).
Volunteered significantly freshman year trying to increase cleanliness and improve health conditions in desolate parts of India
Plenty of FBLA
President of School’s DECA chapter
Member of Math Varsity team, Science team
(I think my software/app work counts as entrepreneurship? I do everything myself and make money so, yeah). I never got any work/intern opportunities because I don’t have a social security number
ESSAYS: Writing about how I managed to overcome intolerance for my my religion in my home country, and the struggle I endured teaching myself to code during that time. Also wrote about how making apps for other companies all by myself, and having lots of users was an intellectual experience. Essay is 8/10 in my opinion.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Nothing special. I don’t have much of a relationship with my teachers, they will be generic.
OTHER INFO:
Attend an ordinary public high school in Wisconsin.
Male
Household income around $50k, need plenty of financial aid.
You can self nominate for the Morehead Cain at the University of North Carolina.
UAlabama is a good one. I would like to thank you for giving your fellow posters information as to what you can afford before asking for suggestions. That is very helpful for us and can help us immensely in guiding you. Good luck wherever you end up!
Edit: Also, here are some schools that offer automatic scholarships for varying amounts and academic qualifications. See if you like any (and if the offers are still valid): http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Do you report your entrepreneur income on your federal and Wisconsin income tax returns?
Do your parents file a Wisconsin resident income tax return?
@Madison85 Yes my parents do file a Wisconsin resident income tax. I’ve never had to deal with taxes for my entrepreneur income, I think the payment system processes it automatically 
I just checked the Alabama website, it looks like I would get an automatic scholarship of $25k per year. But my parents are so poor that I might not be able to afford Alabama even with the scholarship :(( I would have to pay about $19k per year after the scholarship :((
Ummm, no. Your federal and Wisconsin income taxes are not taken care of automatically.
So you want to apply to colleges and list your entrepreneurial business on the applications but then claim that you don’t have to file income tax returns?
That’s a problem.
@Madison85 Yeah, you’re right. My visa doesn’t allow me to have a social security number so I don’t know if I’m even allowed to report income. It’s only about $2500 per year of spare change so we aren’t talking serious business here.
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My parents can only afford to pay $12k per year, so I desperately need a scholarship.
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So, the University of Alabama should be affordable.
You’d get TWO awards… The free tuition award (The Presidential scholarship). Plus the engineering award for 2500 per year.
Your parents’ money, your two scholarships, and any money you earn would easily be enough. the posted COA is padded to include the priciest dorms. You can save about $3k per year by taking a standard double dorm.
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It’s only about $2500 per year
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Then you don’t have to file income tax. That is under the threshold.
Nope, that is not under the threshold for filing an income tax return to report self-employment income and pay 15.3% self-employment tax. That income threshold is $400.
@Madison85 Thanks so much for the info.
@mom2collegekids I just ran the numbers and the minimum I would have to pay for Alabama is $14k. That’s still too much for my family. I can’t take out loans either because I don’t have a U.S cosigner.
I just learned that I could get a FULL ride from Howard University given my stats. That includes all tuition, room/board, and even textbooks. But I really don’t want to attend Howard 
My number one choice at the moment is Dartmouth, where I’m applying ED. I could go there as they give a ton of financial aid. I’m currently looking at financial backups to go in case I don’t get in.
I’m a legal resident of Wisconsin, so I could pay in stage tuition for UW Madison, but even that’s at $16k per year. I’m not aware of any scholarships for incoming students at Madison
You can get a full ride at Louisiana-Monroe, and full tuition at Louisiana Tech. The residual cost at Louisiana Tech would be about $8000/year.
I would also look at Mississippi State. The award there is less certain but would likely be in the range you need.
There are many competitive scholarships you could try for, see the thread on that topic in the links at the top of the forum.
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just ran the numbers and the minimum I would have to pay for Alabama is $14k.
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what did you run? What are the details of your results?
and you said that your parents will pay $12k, and you can earn about $2500.