<p>I am not a US citizen or a green card holder. I never submitted FAFSA. They gave me 4k in grants, 5k in international loans, and the rest in work/study, I don’t know why. They said that they met my entire financial need but truly did not understand my family’s situation</p>
<p>I am guessing that the $100k is presumed to be available to pay for your college education. Maybe the college’s viewpoint is, why should it subsidize your parents’ retirement?</p>
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<p>@mom2collegekids, I don’t understand why receiving loans or work-study suggests that paulet is a US citizen or green card holder. Many colleges are able to facilitate loans to international students, usually through partnerships with banks or credit unions (usually with US cosigners though), and work-study options are available to international students as long as the hours and the work doesn’t violate the restrictions of their F-1 visa. They can’t receive federal aid by filling out the FAFSA of course but that doesn’t mean that they can’t receive loans or work-study from other sources.</p>
<p>I agree that it might be tough to win an appeal. It’s definitely worth the effort but they may not accept the family’s assertion that all of their assets and other holdings can’t be used to contribute to college costs. Hopefully they do though, especially if the family can document that they have tried to sell those assets and cannot get anyone to buy them. </p>
<p>If not though, it’s likely that you can get merit aid at other schools with the qualifications that you had to get into Cornell.</p>
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<p>That’s a good point too. Even if Cornell budges on the valuation of the land in Argentina that money will still be there and it will affect your eligibility for aid.</p>
<p>It sounds like Cornell has some loan funds available for international students…and has work-study jobs that are funded by Cornell funds. </p>
<p>However, this school is not currently an affordable option for this poster. </p>
<p>^^Right!</p>
<p>@DmitriR Because Cornell’s website says that they don’t offer loans to int’ls. That why.</p>
<p>Cornell’s website does have a list of int’l lenders for int’ls to contact, but those loans aren’t pkg’d in C’s FA pkgs</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.finaid.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/International%20Financial%20Aid%20FAQs_1.pdf”>http://www.finaid.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/International%20Financial%20Aid%20FAQs_1.pdf</a></p>
<p>And…Cornell’s website says it will not accept FA appeals from int’ls.</p>
<p>Something must have changed and they haven’t updated their website if this person got loans AND is being allowed to appeal. </p>
<p>Poster…who is the lender? And would your parents’ assets in the US be collateral? </p>
<p>And if the loans were dependent upon a US cosigner, then WHY specify an amount? The person could borrow the whole cost minus $4k. </p>
<p>This saga is making no sense. This poster applied to Cornell. It is clear Cornell does not guarantee to meet full need for international students. The website says no appeals, and no loans to international students.</p>
<p>In addition, this poster keeps adding owned properties in subsequent posts. Any property other than the primary residence can be viewed by college as an expendable asset whether you can sell it, or not.</p>
<p>Something here does not make sense.</p>
<p>The family could borrow against the properties.</p>
<p>Poster…why are your parents’ funds in the US? Do they have funds in any other countries, perhaps the Cayman Islands</p>
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<p>That’s a good point, thanks for clarifying. It does sound as if there is a misunderstanding here, either on the information that the OP is presenting or a discrepancy between Cornell’s stated policies and how they are handling this individual’s case. Hopefully the poster will return to explain what they meant since it is hard to really tell what’s going on with unclear/contradictory information doled out piecemeal like this. (Though I’m starting to realize that many threads in this subforum are like this…)</p>
<p>It is entirely possible that Cornell has either changed it’s policies (w/o updating website) and now offers smallish loans to int’ls…or because the parents have a large amount of funds in the US, maybe it is doing so with the parents’ funds as collateral? The latter seems unlikely since such a small amount was offered in loans.</p>
<p>I think Northwestern is a rare univ that now offers large loans to int’ls. It will be interesting if they get burned by these offers once the borrowers return to their home countries and beyond the reach of NU or collectors/courts to get paid. </p>
<p>other loan offers to int’ls seem to require a US citizen co-signer. </p>
<p>I know that Cornell doesn’t meet need for int’ls, but I can’t help but think that Cornell doesn’t believe that the family’s income is truly that low or believes that the properties are worth enough that the family could borrow against them…or sell them.</p>
<p>Cornell is the institution that offered the loans. They call them “International Loans” in the package. In the award decision it is never explained if they depend on a Cosigner or not. I genuinely don’t know. I guess that there there is not an appeal process for internationals in RD but I was able to email FA and they said that they will get back to me in January. I don’t know if they didn’t update the website, if there are special circumstances, or if we are not understanding it correctly. You are asking questions that I, a seventeen teen year old student, honestly do not know how to answer. </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids No, my family does not have any accounts in the Caymans. We only have in Venezuela and one in the US. It is a Venezuelan custom since many years ago to save money in dollars instead of Bolivars, as a means to be protected from the devaluation of our currency (which is more than 100%, and some even say 200%). My parents are older than most, my dad being on the verge of retirement, and they don’t have any retirement funds from the State. That is why he legally saved the money on that account during all his life, and it would not be fair from me to take it all from him to pay for one college, a college that will cost more than double that account. </p>
<p>Since Cornell will not get back to me until January, it doesn’t make sense to continue dwelling on this topic. I want to thank all the posters for their opinions. Have a Merry Christmas.</p>
<p>Yes, you need to move on and find a school that will be affordable. How much can your family contribute each year? Do you have a financial safety school? You’ve missed some big deadlines for large merit.</p>
<p>You’re an engineering major…I think you should apply to a couple of schools that will at least give you large merit for your stats. I don’t know what your stats are, but if accepted to Cornell, they must be strong. </p>
<p>It’s clear that Cornell’s acceptance was given with the idea that you’d be a money source for them if you attended. </p>
<p>I know that this is heartbreaking, but along with applying to more top schools that meet need (which become like lottery wins for int’ls).</p>
<p>What are your safety schools?</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>How much can your parents pay each year?</p>