Important hypothetical question... (financial aid)

Colleges & Universities Rice University
1

<p>A friend is going through this situation and needs advice, and I thought I would get some CC input. He will pay a visit to the financial aid office once spring break is over, but for the sake of peace of mind…</p>

<p>He is sophomore at Rice and has been on need-based aid since he got here (in addition to merit aid). He has lived in Texas for over 5 years and is a permanent resident (not a US citizen). His parents (also not citizens) are moving out of the country in the summer, though (permanently). What happens to his aid? I thought I knew a lot about financial aid but I can’t decide which of these scenarios will play out:</p>

<p>–SCENARIO 1–
He is no longer eligible for need-based aid since his parents are out of the country. He doesn’t even fill out a FAFSA anymore, and he only keeps his merit aid. He is now considered an international student by Rice.</p>

<p>–SCENARIO 2–
He declares himself as independent on the next FAFSA and his aid increases. to meet full need since he has no income other than a part time job at Rice. </p>

<p>Frankly, scenario 2 seems too good to be true and I’m leaning towards scenario 1. But scenario 2 could happen… couldn’t it?</p>

2

<p>Or 3 - he remains a permanent resident and his financial aid stays the same… He’ll have to contact financial aid dept to find out. :)</p>

3

<p>For the record, he called financial aid and they told him something along the lines of scenario 3 that anxiousmom mentioned, except they will use the parents’ new income in the foreign country to determine aid. </p>

<p>He didn’t mention if they told him exactly how they would do that, though (as far as currency exchange, etc…). It seems to me that this could get complicated but FinAid will probably work it out with him, I guess.</p>