kidwithshirt

Hi. My family are immigrants to the US without permanent resident status. Thus unfortunately we can't apply for FAFSA

My parents were getting their grad degree and were only compensated with their research stipend income (our only money), for about 4 years (until my sophomore year). Until last year my parents both found decent jobs. They probably make about 130,000 before taxes these days.

We bought a house in May with little down payment from the savings we had back we were in our original country. So we don't have much equity on the house yet, close to nothing I presume.

I do not want to cost a fortune for my parents for my education. I am on par to compete with other kids applying to HYP schools, and I think I have a decent shot. I think if I were to get into one of these schools, money probably won't be a problem.

But I am curious about how generous these colleges would be toward our family? I received a ton of brochures from colleges through the mail touting their generous need-based aid (Princeton, for example, 60k under free, 150k pay about 10% income). I have not had the time to look into this more specifically regarding my situation, but do international student receive a similar examining process?

Also would they consider our lack of equity despite our recent increase in income? I caught my eyes on something a while ago that says a lot of the top schools have abandoned looking at real estate equity in determining the aid amount. This sounds bad for my situation

Any input would be appreciated

thumper1

HYPS have very generous financial aid for all students. I believe international students are included in that group (someone else would have to verify that). I am not sure they are need blind in the admissions for international students (and you would be considered one, I believe). This means they would consider your ability to pay when determining your admissions...or not.

Just an FYI...just because you are competitive for HYPS, does not mean you are guaranteed acceptance there. These schools admit about 9% of applicants. Translation...they DENY admission to 91%or so. In that 91% of rejections, most of the applicants are competitive for admissions to the schools.

It is well worth your while to have some schools on your list that are financially within reach for your family.

kidwithshirt

Thanks for the input. I guess I overstated my confidence. I am just saying that I have the qualifications but perhaps everyone else has got the same thing. I was trying to suggest that I have a realistic chance, but of course nothing is for sure.

Definitely I am looking at back up schools. I don't know any other schools beside the ivies that does international need-based aids. Most state schools are not generous enough to fund international students.

I am also looking at Canadian universities, since I have Canadian permanent residency. But if you have any suggestions of schools that offer aids in the States, please let me know

mom2collegekids

Can your parents provide verification of their incomes? Do they pay US income taxes?

Since their incomes are about $130k you may not qualify for much, if any, aid even from private sources. Perhaps some $$ from Harvard...

hmom5

You would indeed get generous aid with $130K income and few assets at HYPS. But that's pretty much where it ends. Most other school will expect much more from your parents--a general rule of thumb would be one-quarter to one-third of their income, so $30K plus would be in the ballpark.

Hopefully your competitive stats will get you into one of the mighty four, but that's a tall order for an international. So you need to figure out if you should be looking at merit aid schools that do give aid to internationals. With HYPS stats, schools ranked below 50 wold be anxious to have a student like you and may offer very significant aid.