I am an Indian expat studying in the UAE looking to study computer science at a small LAC in the USA. my parents’ combined income is 90,000 USD. I have a 34 on the ACT, top 10-15% in my grade, decent grades; mostly As and a few Bs. I am a member of my student council, Chair at our MUN programme, a ton of national and international volunteering and community service (have received an award for the same) I have taken initiative and started our school’s first coding competition, I was the leader of our school’s quiz club team and we won the first prize. I have done a few internships at tech companies. I have some pretty good LORs. What chances do I have of getting accepted into good LAC’s like Bowdoin, Carleton, Swarthmore etc. with financial aid.
How much can your parents pay annually? With $90,000 income their expected family contribution could easily be $30,000 a year or more.
Also, you are a transfer student and Ben some schools that would have given you more aid as a freshman won’t do so as a transfer
I am a high school senior, not a transfer student
And yes, we can afford 30,000 USD per year. but I would need another 30,000 from financial aid. Is that too much?
There is a big category of LACs that don’t offer merit at all. Most of those do offer need based aid and if your family income is $90k, you’d probably get some FA (schools like Williams and Amherst). Very hard to get accepted.
Haverford
Some of the schools mentioned cost $70,000 or so a year. So you would need $40,000 in need based aid. At very generous colleges that meet full need for all accepted international students, its very possible you could get the need based aid you need. BUT hurdle one is acceptance. Some of these schools accept 5% of international students who apply…and your region has tons of applicants.
In addition, most of these schools are need aware for admissions for international students which means your ability to pay will be considered when your application for admission is considered.
Some of these schools clearly state that they have limited funds for international students. Look at each website for colleges you are interested in…and and look for international student financial aid. You will get lots of info.
Would you consider University of Alabama? I know you said small LAC, but I believe with your stats, your net costs…guaranteed…would be less than $30,000 a year.
Take a look at Hamilton, from which students have performed exceptionally in coding competitions which included teams from other LACs.
https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/comp-sci-department-hosts-college-computing-conference
https://cs.hamilton.edu/ccscne/
https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/departments/Home?dept=Computer%20Science
International tuition for the University of Alabama is 27,000 USD. Taking into account housing, travel etc. I would at least need 45,000.
@wellcat The LACs you have listed are highly competitive , and I dont see anything about your description of yourself that particularly stands out. If you want to study in the US and cannot be full pay, you will need to cast a much wider net. Look into NJIT . It’s in the NYC metro area, awards scholarships to international students and has a respected CS program. My son is a second year CS student thete and likes the program . Lots of Indian students. Some have mentioned UTDallas. So look into that one too. Also UMBC, near Baltimore. The universities I have listed are near big airports in major metro areas.
CS is a competitive major at many universities . So that’s another factor to the take into account.
Even for US citizens, very few universities meet full financial need. Parents and students take loans to make it work.
What is your GPA? Grade point average?
Have you looked at the guaranteed scholarships at Alabama based on ACT or SAT and GPA? If your GPA is sufficiently high, your net cost at Alabama would be well within your price point.
We have a percentage system at my school and my total percentage for grade 10 was 91% (97% in science and math) , my grades dropped in 11th grade: 83% (but that seems to be a general trend for us, and I was able to maintain my top 10 class rank). I am hoping to do much better in 12th grade and my predicted grades are 94 %. Also, I ranked 5 in the National Cyber Olympiad, and 10 in Physics. I am hoping to do better this year and qualify for the international round. Will this help my application?
Why the US? It seems to me that you could make this work at a cost of $30k or less in some other countries (India being the obvious one, but some other countries might also work also).
I am originally planning to go to Europe or Singapore, but I want to apply to some good colleges in the US as I am very attracted to the whole idea of a liberal arts education. However, I do not plan on going there if I am not accepted into a good college along with some financial aid.
Ask yourself also…what you intend to do after you graduate from college. As a non-citizen in the U.S. your options will be limited here.
“I want to apply to some good colleges in the US as I am very attracted to the whole idea of a liberal arts education.”
In terms of the flexibility of a “liberal arts college”, the smaller universities in Canada are very similar to the LACs in the US. They will however come in under your US$30,000 limit (they might be just over $30k in Canadian dollars, but the exchange rate is favourable). They are not as well known as the most famous of the LACs in the US.
I am not as familiar with schools in Australia or New Zealand, but I do wonder whether any of them would fit your budget also.
You could look at UT Dallas. It is not a LAC but does have a good computer science program. With your stats, you could receive an AES scholarship that would give you in state tuition. The highest would be full tuition +$3000/semester and the lowest is $3000/semester. Even the lowest scenario would be in your price range.