Hi,
I am dad of a kid who is on H4 . Though I applied for GC in 2015 chances are bleak I will get it soon. My son will be junior high in the coming year and came to US when he was 6 months old.
Question - A) is he treated as international student for all private colleges including Ivy League.
B) If we apply for admissions out of the state we have lived. Say , UCLA (we are not CA resident) or Georgia tech (Not GA resident), will he again be treated as an international student OR a citizen who lived in a different state and has applied as out of state.
My son is a real bright kid getting all As , winning state and national competitions.
Any suggestions/feedback/guidance will be very much appreciated.
Yes. Except if he is Canadian or Mexican, UPenn is need blind
You’re splitting hairs. Preference is given to in-state. I don’t think one can make a case that there is a statistically significant difference in acceptance rate for OOS v international when all else is equal - which they never are. Regardless, FA is limited to in-state applicants in general
Your saving grace is that he may be considered an instate applicant at your flagship since you live&pay taxes in a state+he graduates a HS in that state, which would make that flagship easier to get into and a discounted cost. (Not all state universities do that though.)
And if you require financial aid (either need based or merit) you need to check all those public universities. Some give zero aid to international students. And some give only limited aid to international students.
Regardless…at this point, your kids will be considered international students.
In some states, international students who graduate from high school IN that state are given instate tuition status. Check your state.
Another potential difference is for merit aid (and keep in mind that not all schools provide merit aid).
Some schools will treat OOS and international students equivalently while others will not provide merit money to international students.
(I have also heard that a few schools don’t distinguish between residency status when awarding merit money - but I don’t know if that’s accurate).
Thanks for all your replies. This is really sad.
Given the case, that my son is really ready to work hard for many hours/day. He also started the well known/expensive tuitions for Physics and Chemistry Olympiads which would have made a difference if he was treated as domestic. He is in ARML for maths.
Now competing at international level is very very difficult. It is like saying come top 10 in these Olympiads.
For finance, we had savings for an year and rest he was planning to take loan.
Sadly even after spending his whole life in US , he is still treated as outsider. I am not sure how to motivate him.
Not a good situation. I came to the US to work (for the second time) when my son was around a year old. So, I am well aware of these kinds of issues. We were lucky that we didn’t have to wait so long, and he got citizenship before turning 18.
At least there are a few reach choices he can try:
I think you might have the best luck with your in-state schools. But that varies a lot between states.
UCLA is probably about $70,000/yr for oos. How would your student be able to borrow the $210,000 to complete a degree there?
Even if they were eligible for the FAFSA, the amount those students can borrow is only $5,500 the first year, then $6,500 the second and $7,500 for the third and fourth year. UCLA wouldn’t be affordable, nor would GeorgiaTech since students can’t borrow the amount needed.
There are lots of colleges in the US and the good news is your international student will have more options based on their good academics. Even better, you can help shape a list that will have affordable acceptances because you are considering the finances and learning about financial aid for international students now instead of later with unaffordable acceptances. Unaffordable acceptances waste a student’s precious application time. Focus efforts on viable options.
There will be some reaches on his list, but he should also have targets/safeties, too.
I am yet to explore the finance options but I was under the impression that for getting an extremely good college I would take loan or arrange some how. Maybe I am very naive yet. Will explore gradually in this year. As you mentioned I have some time to figure out the best options
In some states, students who graduate high school in the state after enough years of attendance and/or living in the state can be considered in-state residents. However, the rules vary on whether international students can use these provisions.
There is a reason many students, even very good students, need to attend community college in CA and transfer to the UC system. They need to reduce costs.
You need to very carefully investigate the policies of each school to which you apply. There is actually a lot of money given to “international” students but your son’s lawful status may actually hinder that.
I am so sorry the system is so clogged and problematic.
If your family makes 65k or under and/or he qualifies for free/reduced lunch, he’s eligible for Questbridge since he’s attending a US high school, and quite a few Questbridge colleges will consider him as a domestic applicant. Questbridge guarantees a full ride to elite colleges for students who qualify. It is, obviously, quite selective. Apply to the National College Match | QuestBridge.
It’s not possible to borrow that much money because it would be impossible to pay back (and banks wouldn’t let you borrow). The federal loans for residents are 5.5k for freshman year, total 27k for the whole college duration. That’s probably what you’ll be able to borrow.
Even if he had been a US citizen, odds are he wouldn’t have been able to attend either GTech or UCLA unless you make 250-300k+ a year.
There are more than 3,500 colleges in the US and the top 10% of that are very good. You can borrow a guide called Princeton review’s Best colleges and your family can start looking. The few need blind/meet need colleges that don’t differentiate between domestic and international applicants plus your instate universities would probably be key colleges to investigate.
If he’s a junior, he needs to create an email address for college and join mailing lists at the above colleges, opening the emails and clicking on links of interest (this is tracked and called “interest”). If you can take him to visit a few colleges nearby, register for official tours.
What state do you live in? What are his stats (GPA, test scores)?
Is he on track to have 4 years of English&History/social science, math through calculus, bio/chem/physics, a world language through level 3 or 4, 1 unit of art, and about 8-10 APs?