OP, I want to check that you are informed about what the phrase “meets full need” means in the context of US colleges and universities. Most people don’t – I didn’t before I started to really learn about this. It DOES NOT mean the colleges and universities will reduce your costs to what your family thinks it can reasonably afford. It DOES mean that they will ask you to provide all of your financial information and then they will calculate how much THEY think your family can afford. Then they will provide grants and scholarships (free money) and sometimes loans (which you have to pay back) and sometimes work-study (where you have to find a job for about 10 hours a week) to make up the difference between the amount they expect from you and the total cost of attendance (COA).
The thing is, most of the time, what the colleges and universities calculate a family can afford is NOT what the family thinks it can afford. Sometimes, the college is more generous than what the family is expecting but MOST of the time, the college is significantly less generous than what the family is expecting. And what you also need to know is that each college and university calculates this differently, so what Brown may offer you, for instance, will not be the same as what Cornell or another university may offer you.
I know you are hoping to get into one of the few colleges in the US that meets full-need for international students. Have you run any of the financial aid calculators to determine if they think your costs are going to be similar to what your family can actually afford?
If not, the link below is a good place to start. Please note that it is NOT for international students and it is NOT super accurate. It is just a good “baby step” to see if you are even in the range of getting the financial aid you need from the colleges, or if you need to re-direct your plans to India or another country that is not the US.
If they say they won’t provide an estimate for an international student, just choose US Student. This is ONLY for a ROUGH estimate and when you report back the results, we can help you with the more precise calculators.
Also, when they ask for how much money is in a retirement account, they have very specific rules about this. It must be money that is in a special bank account that is designated by the banks as “retirement”. In the US, that is a 401k, IRA, etc. It does NOT mean money in a regular account that your parents are intending for retirement, or maybe a second house that they own and are renting out and consider that is money for retirement. So you must be careful in filling that out. If it is not in a 401k, IRA or similar account (your parents should know what this is, hopefully) then it must be reported as “regular checking or savings” or under “non-retirement accounts”. If they own property other than the house you live in (the primary residence), they need to include the value of that property (current market value minus amount they still owe) as part of their “non-retirement” accounts.
So do this for Brown, since that is where you want to ED. Let us know what they say, because if it is far off from what your family can afford, then there is no point in applying. And know 1) this is only an estimate and your real aid package may be different and 2) it is not meant for international students, but it will at least provide a rough estimate so you can see if it is even worth moving forward with your Brown application.
MyinTuition - Quick College Cost Estimator for Students and Parents
And to all the other CC-ers out there who hate MyIntuition – I know, I know. But this will give the OP a quick idea of whether their hopes for grants that will bring the costs down to what they can afford are at all realistic or not. And the full NPCs are based on 1040s and other data that the OP doesn’t have. So I think this is a good baby step.
And OP, if the costs for Brown come back as too high, then try Princeton. I say this not because I think your stats are competitive for Princeton, but because Princeton is known to be the most generous of all the private schools regarding financial aid. If Princeton comes back as unaffordable, then posters on this board will probably advise you to significantly adjust your plans for next year. Again, try the Princeton portion of the myintution site only to see what the most generous college would provide, not because you actually want to go there.
Editing to add that using the site is anonymous and won’t go back to the school.