For international students, the university website states
“The University of Alabama requires that all international curriculum transcripts must be evaluated by an evaluation agency. Please provide a course-by-course evaluation with GPA calculation. For a list of approved agencies, please visit naces.org.”
Does that mean there’s no way I can finish my application before the deadline ?
@orangeee even if your father’s income was half of what it is…you would not qualify for need based aid a the vast majority of colleges in this country. You do realize that many of the things things your dad’s company is paying for like insurance, and “everything” are things that others also pay for…out of their earnings. Not everyone has fully paid insurance here.
The cost of living where you are is not relevant either. It is not taken into consideration.
You definitely have options.
- Pay full costs to attend these schools to which you have applied.
- Put some applications out to other schools....Temple, for example, has a later date for some scholarship considerations.
- Apply to less costly schools. NO ONE is required to attend a $60,000 a year college. There are plenty of colleges with price tags that are lower than that. Look at the SUNY schools...even for OOS, your costs would be much less.
- Take a gap year and apply to schools where you would get significant merit aid.
- Do you have any relatives in the u.s.? If so, do any of them live within commuting distance of a public university? If so, you would only be paying tuition costs, and not room/board....if they would allow you to live with them.
What exactly are your parents saying they CAN and will pay annually for you to attend college?
Your 2200 SAT and 4.2 GPA could possibly get you some merit money someplace…some schools award merit based on the strength of your application. You need to open your mind to other options.
So…what will you do if you get acceoted to a $60,000 a year college with no aid…and your family won’t pay the bill? What will you do?
@Madison85 what is the income exclusion for tax purposes for expats? Wouldn’t that reduce the actual AGI this family has if the parent is an expat working abroad?
Some schools *may give you financial aid due to your personal circumstances. However, they will prioritize students with low income so it may be a long shot, but it’s worth a try. What is your major most likely going to be? For example, if you’re going into a STEM field, employers don’t really care where you go to college and instead focus on your amount of experience, work ethic, etc, so going to a school with 60k tuition may not be worth it.
@dandoon @orangeee: yes, it’s very annoying for students with national boards (and no national history of corrupted files or cheating), national curricula, and verified test results graded on a readily available national grid (with little variation that a guidance counselor can easily explain), that they should pay money to get a certification that their tests are what they say they are. But that’s the rule, and the expense is worth earning the scholarship. However, yes, it means that you need to send things one month early so that it’s processed (at best, if you pay double, they can process it in two weeks, which means it’s too late for UAlabama now.)
I don’t know if ALevels/OLevels/GCSEs would be processed differently, since the curriculum is in English; I would also assume IB wouldn’t require any evaluation, since it’s IB and thus recognizable everywhere.
https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Foreign-Earned-Income-Exclusion
2015 is $100,800
So @Madison85 does this mean that $100,000 is subtracted from the AGI for,this student? If so…what more should,they want?
I don’t work in that area of tax, but it looks that way - agreed- what more could they want?
If requirements are met, taxpayers working and living abroad can deduct up to $100,800 of earned income for AGI, or more since I see (below) there looks to be additional exclusions for meals and lodging provided by employer (if that’s the case).
Foreign Earned Income Exclusion
If you meet certain requirements, you may qualify for the foreign earned income and foreign housing exclusions and the foreign housing deduction.
If you are a U.S. citizen or a resident alien of the United States and you live abroad, you are taxed on your worldwide income. However, you may qualify to exclude from income up to an amount of your foreign earnings that is adjusted annually for inflation/u. In addition, you can exclude or deduct certain foreign housing amounts.
You may also be entitled to exclude from income the value of meals and lodging provided to you by your employer. Refer to Exclusion of Meals and Lodging in Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad, and Publication 15-B, Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits for more information.
There is no net price calculator that is going to figure all this out, and financial aid is not guaranteed at any but the very top schools, and they are only accepting less than 20% of applicants.
So … if you believe that colleges will award you financial aid, with no real proof and no guarantees of even getting in, you could really be unhappy in May.
So … .apply to some of the automatic merit aid schools. Or all of them. If you don’t meet their deadlines … OK … that particular school won’t work out … but each school is different.
Open up all 100 of the USNWR schools, especially ones with merit and some LACs too, if they satisfy your interest. Apply to your previous state of residence, you may be able to qualify for in state tuition with an appeal.
And let it go … most people do not get to go to a 60K school or even a 30K school unless they take on crazy debt. Your family has some unique circumstances, but so do most people, whether because of job losses, investment losses, major medical expenses, lack of savings, etc … their students don’t go to their dream school.
There are still very many good opportunities for an education in the US … or even where you live now (most countries have good universities, even if their high schools are no good).
And be grateful, living overseas is a marvelous experience even if you have to live in kind of a modest home. Going to private schools is likely much better than 80% of US high school experiences.
Your whole life is ahead of you and with those SAT scores and GPA and private school and multi-cultural background, you should do great in life … whether you go to Harvard or #100
OP, look to public colleges in your home state first (assume you have one since you are a US citizen). Here are two private colleges which give large merit awards for your stats… BSC http://www.bsc.edu/admission/scholarships.cfm and Stetson http://www.stetson.edu/home/