You don’t say how much aid you will need. Transferring as an international student is difficult if you need aid. Transfer aid for anyone overall is very difficult because most of the funding comes from the university themselves and they’ve already divided that funding pie.
You don’t get the same “replacement aid” for whomever has left their university.
Each financial aid package is based on the person that’s applying.
If a person has left their university and they are a US citizen, they may have been eligible for funding that is only specifically for US citizens like PELL grants, federal loans, work study and university grants that may only be available for American citizens. In other words, you don’t know the financial situation of the transfer who has left the university; that’s all private information.
Also, a lot of students are full pay. (We paid full fees for our three children). So, if you have a student that leaves the university, and they were full pay, then how is that private funding now available to you?
Are their parents going to pay for your tuition and fees? As a former full-time employee working 60-70 hours to help pay my children’s tuition, I know I wouldn’t shell out $60,000+ for someone who isn’t my child.
The funding has to come from somewhere and usually that’s the Bank of Mom and Dad. Federal funding is limited to US citizens and isn’t a whole lot of money but it helps to pay the tuition and fees. The best funding comes from the universities themselves and they reserve the best funding to entice entering freshman not transfers so much.