International student from Austria

Gumbymom
Sat, 11 Jul 2015 15:16:11 +0000

There are many “really good” schools besides the top 50 or so listed and each school is very different, so you need to have some sort of criteria to start your search. A CC would be a good option which would allow you to acclimate to the US college system and give you more time to focus on that " perfect" fit. You will need to file a FASFA form for federal financial aid, but you still need a ballpark number of how much money your parents can contribute. You will be paying Out of state rates at any CC you attend. Since I am a California resident, I am familar with the California CC’s. It will cost you around $6-7,000 a year for Community college tuition since you are considered OOS. This does not include room/board/personal expenses and the majority of CC’s do not have dorms, so you would need to find a room for rent/apartment. If you qualify for Federal aid, your costs will be offset by the FA amounts. Assume around $16-20K/year to attend a CC in California.

The California CC’s are an excellent system and have articulation agreements with the California State and University of California system, which allows you to transfer into one of 23 Cal States/9 UC’s after 2 years if you have met the transfer requirements.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/

http://www.calstate.edu/transfer/degrees/AAAS-TDegreeRequirements.shtml

If you plan to pursue this route, after your transfer to a Cal State/UC, your costs would be significantly higher.
Cal States would cost you around $35K/year or UC’s around $55K/year for your last 2 years of undergraduate instruction. Again, if you qualify for FA, your costs would be offset by your aid, but by no means would you get full costs covered.

You need to do more research and see if coming to the US is even a viable option, financially and academically.
http://www.expatarrivals.com/the-usa/applying-to-college-in-the-usa

I hope some of this information helps and Good luck with your search.