<p>my son was accepted to Columbia university class of 2018. Since he is an international student, we didn’t apply for financial aid because it isnt need blind.I know he won’t be able to apply FA in the rest of his school years. Could you please let me know if there are other ways to get money support in future or get any opportunities to make money when he’s in Columbia? Please advise
or is there any way for him to get aid at this point in time before term starts</p>
<p>Columbia specifically states the following:</p>
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<p>It looks like you/your family was trying to game the system by not applying for aid as an international student, leading the school to believe that you/your family could pay the cost of attending Columbia vs. stating your financial situation and letting the school decide whether or not they could fund your child. </p>
<p>They admitted your son based on the premise that you could pay for 4 years without and financial assistance. Now it is time to put your money where your mouth is and fund your child’s 4 years at Columbia. </p>
<p>As an international student, your son will not be able to work in the U.S. Unless you can get loans from your home country or find a U.S. co-signer foolish enough to take on $240,000 of debt for you/your family, then Columbia University is not a financially feasible option for your family and your son must decline the admission.</p>
<p>Thank you for the speedy judgement you passed. Actually we have enough money stored in fixed deposits to fund his entire four year education. The reason I ask this question is in case the exchange rate of our country depreciates( it is bound to over the years) I would like to have a backup plan or a plan which would not make me worry.
We did not try “game” the system </p>
<p>Greenbeast -</p>
<p>Your real concern isn’t with being able to get aid. Rather your concern is the best way to shield your family against fluctuation in currencies. One option would be to discuss pre-paying the four year cost now. Another option would be to move some of the deposits into other currencies that show different behavior relative to the US$ than your home currency does.</p>
<p>That your family has been able to save the full cost of four years is something to be applauded. Few families are able to do that. Clearly you have been working at this for a long time. If you continue to save at the same rate that allowed you to build up this college fund, it may be possible for your family to cover any changes in costs that develop due to changes in exchange rates.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should better phrased your question as the way you wrote is does leave it open that you did not have enough to finance all 3 years and are now looking for aid.</p>
<p>If you had stated in your original question that you had the money but had concerns about the exchange rate, I would have and am now recommending that you contact Columbia regarding prepayment as they will allow you to prepay all 4 years at the current rate. </p>
<p>This would mean that you would not have to worry about tuition increases and if there were some changes in the exchange rate, your concern would only be financing room, board and misc expenses vs. financing the full cost of attendance over the next 3 years.</p>
<p>Columbia states:
</a></p>
<p>There you go…pre-pay all four years now. </p>
<p>Sybbie is right, the way that you framed your first post (didnt apply for aid because it isnt need blind) does sound that you gamed the system (otherwise why mention that at all since it sounds like you wouldn’t have qualified for aid anyway with all of your assets). Your child was likely accepted overly similarly qualified int’l students due to the ability to pay. (I think some of these full-need schools are starting to realize that it is too hard to adequately verify what these int’l families really have financially since so many have unclaimed properties, accts, etc)</p>
<p>your son would only have very limited ways to earn money because his visa wont allow him to work much. Many employers, co-ops, internships will not accept int’ls for a variety of reasons, including security concerns regarding proprietary information.</p>
<p>so, pre-pay and feel satisfied that you can do so, and you will protect yourself from both unfavorable rates and tuition increases (that is probably a $10k+ savings right there.)</p>
<p>another option (maybe), put the funds now in a US investment entity with the current exchange…mutual funds, whatever. I dont know if that is possible, but it may be an option.</p>
<p>Columbia has good info about jobs for internationals. He may be able to find an on campus job. Other jobs are subject to OPT
<a href=“International Students | Columbia CCE”>http://www.careereducation.columbia.edu/students/International-Students</a></p>
<p>The other option is to investigate moving the money for Columbia costs into US dollar denominated accounts to hedge exchange rate fluctuations.</p>
<p>Congratulations on his acceptance to Columbia.
That being said, the answer is No.
The offer he had when he send in his enrollment deposit is binding as an international student. If he wins other outside scholarship or institutional scholarship (rarely), then that will be his luck.
As an international student, the money he will make from on-campus job will barely be enough for his personal expenses (books, snacks, laundry, transportation etc). OPT might be an option here, but that is in his final year or year after graduation - Thus, still requiring that he is able to foot his bills for four years @ Columbia.
It is possible, but not certain, that he was admitted amongst other things due to being able to foot his own bill while at Columbia.
So, he would have to plan on taking loans from his country for four years or send in an enrollment to another school that he can afford while its not too late.
Best of luck to you and your son.</p>
<p>Schools that are need aware in admissions under certain circumstances, are so, because they do not have the fund allocated so that they can be need blind. So when a student is accepted on the assumption he will not need aid, that he is a full pay, it takes an urgent situation to go into emergency funds for aid for such a student. Usually, what such schools will do is ask for a financial aid statement as of the year of admissions to compare with that of a later date, because there are those who apply initially asking for no aid to take advantage of the higher chances of admissions in hopes of getting the aid once in. It’s a good thing you were not considering doing this, because that base is covered. </p>
<p>You can either prepay the 4 years which would probably give you a better rate of return than the way interest are paying and the way the college costs have been rising, or put the money into a US bank so that it isn’t at the mercy of the exchange rates. </p>
<p>
This is simply not true. The opening post stated very clearly that the family is aware their son will not be able to apply for aid during his four years at Columbia. The rush to judgment (by at least two of the posters above) was uncalled for.</p>
<p>Are there any scholarships available in your country for students who wish to study in other countries?</p>
<p>Based on what OP framed his opening statement I stand by what I said.</p>
<p>OP stating the following:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Since he is an international student, we didn’t apply for financial aid because it isnt need blind.<a href=“if%20he%20did%20not%20apply%20for%20aid,%20there%20would%20not%20have%20been%20a%20need%20to%20submit%20his%20financials”>/quote</a>.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Please advise or is there any way for him to get aid at this point in time before term starts.</p>
<p>In opening statement, OP stated that he knew that his son was not going to be eligible for aid in the future, but posed his question wanting to know if there were any other ways to get money? </p>
<p>All of this would have been a moot point if he simply stated, that he had the cat but was worried about fluctuation rates.</p>
<p>walking and talking like a duck to me.</p>
<p>If OP had enough to pay full freight at Columbia the worry about Columbia not being need blind would have been a non factor for him/his son because he could demonstrate that he had the funds to pay. Columbia not being need blind in the admission process should have not been a concern, yet Op says that it was. </p>
<p>Remember Columbia also states as international students if you don’t apply for aid in the admissions process that you can’t apply later. </p>
<p>OP would have been better served applying every year, getting turned down and appealing if necessary if the market fluctuations would have affected the family’s ability to pay. </p>
<p><<<<
walking and talking like a duck to me.
<<<<<</p>
<p>I agree…that’s why our thoughts were not ‘uncalled for’</p>
<p>I am taking the view that the OP is looking for ways other than through Columbia financial aid to get money for going to college there since the OP states s/he knows up front that fin aid is not a go. However, IMO, it’s important to reiterate the policy.Since the very last sentence in that post states: " Please advise
or is there any way for him to get aid at this point in time before term starts ", I felt that it is worth letting the OP know what one of the consequences of being an international student who did not apply for financial aid is and the reason why. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that there is absolutely no way, the student will find ANYTHING once there, but the pickings are pretty dry. That is why in order to get the student visa even, the funds to cover have to be listed and verified. Once there, depending on luck and how intrepid the student is, there might be some way to get some money. Babysitting jobs, perhaps, other under the table work and whatever permitted for a foreign student. But Columbia’s COA is mid sixties with three zeros behind it. If there are large sources of funds, there would be a line for them. </p>