What should I if i not have tax returns?

Paying for College
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<p>I am in the USA with a diplomatic passport, so my parents do not pay tax to the US government or any other government for that matter… there are no tax returns for my family. So what should I do for the universities, most of which ask for tax returns if I apply for FA?</p>

<p>They do earn a salary obviously but that salary is not taxable. In other words, that salary goes straight from my own country’s government to my parents’ bank account, but the US government is not allowed to tax that income. </p>

<p>Will it be okay if I just explain the situation to them and send papers with details of the salaries?</p>

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<p>Are you being asked to submit CSS Profile for int’l students? If so, there may be something in the instructions that deals with this. </p>

<p>You can’t file FAFSA…you’re an int’l.</p>

<p>Where are you applying to school? If these are FAFSA only schools, you can’t apply for aid.</p>

<p>So I get free lunch and have taken the SAT twice with a fee waiver,</p>

<p>Why do you get free lunch (paid by US taxpayers) when your parents are paid foreign diplomats. Together, their income should exceed the “free lunch” levels…geez.</p>

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<p>Some of my friends would call this C’hutzpa</p>

<p>There are no “Royals” in the US</p>

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<p>@mom2collegekids: Only one of my parents is a working diplomat… and please bear in mind that not all diplomats are as financially well-off as you think. You need to meet more diplomats.</p>

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<p>Equuleus -</p>

<p>Contact the international admissions officer at each of the places that you are applying to, and ask how they would like you to deliver the financial information. You aren’t the only applicant in your situation.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>*Only one of my parents is a working diplomat… and please bear in mind that not all diplomats are as financially well-off as you think. You need to meet more diplomats. *</p>

<p>I don’t think all foreign diplomats are well-off. there’s a huge difference between “well off” and qualifying for free lunch. Most people are “middle class” and don’t get free lunch. </p>

<p>That said, I do not believe that other countries are sending diplomats to this country and paying them such a low salary that their kids qualify for free lunch. That’s ridiculous and unethical to send people to a country, not pay taxes there, and have their kids receiving welfare (free lunch). I find it hard to believe that diplomats are paid that low a salary to qualify for free lunch. </p>

<p>Anyway…back to your question. Since most schools do not give aid to int’ls, your choices will be limited. If you’re applying to FAFSA only schools, you won’t get aid. If you apply to schools that require CSS Profile, then [PROFILE</a> Goes Global](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/higher-ed/financial-aid/profile/global]PROFILE”>CSS Profile: A Global Application – CSS Profile | Education Professionals – The College Board)</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids,</p>

<p>Accredited diplomats and certain other employees of embassies, consulates, and other organizations such as the UN, World Bank, etc. do not pay taxes in the countries where they are currently assigned because of various tax treaties between the countries involved. Whether or not those individuals pay income taxes to their home governments is dependent on the specific polices of those governments.</p>

<p>Depending on the position within the embassy or consulate, and the overall wealth of the country being represented, it is fully possible that a staff member might have an income that is sufficient to support a family, but low enough for the children to receive the types of benefits that Equuleus has mentioned. Anyone assigned here by the foreign government, even the lowest paid file clerk, driver, or cook (and their family members), would have a diplomatic passport. That kind of passport is not just for the boss.</p>

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<p>Gotta agree with mom2 on this one. It’s pretty outrageous to think that there are people living in this country for multiple years, not paying taxes and qualifying for welfare. I don’t care what the ‘pay level’ is, if they are employed and eligible for federal or state welfare programs they should be filing tax returns and paying taxes if necessary. Regardless OP, connect with the finaid departments at the schools you are thinking about and ask them what process and documents will be needed. Most schools have different requirements for internationals.</p>

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<p>momofthreeboys -</p>

<p>Foreign diplomatic staff don’t pay taxes here, because OUR people don’t pay taxes in their countries. It really is as simple as that. As long as our government sees fit to provide free and reduced price meals to children in the public schools regardless of their immigration status, the possibility will remain that some young people such as Equuleus will qualify for that service. If you think things should be otherwise, write your congressperson and senator.</p>

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<p>I don’t CARE that they aren’t paying taxes here. That was NEVER the issue…I understand that diplomats don’t pay taxes to the country where they are living.
**
I care that they’re allowed to be here without enough financial support that they don’t need to be on welfare.**</p>

<p>WE REQUIRE int’l students who come here for their education to show that they have the funds to be here…so that they WON’T be a burden on the country. Diplomats should be held to the same standard. </p>

<p>I doubt that the US sends diplomats to other countries and then those people collect welfare in those countries.</p>

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<p>Ecuuleus,
In prior posts you said:</p>

<p>“both parents are diplomats”
“one is a high ranking diplomat”
“my parents will pay up to $15K/yr”</p>

<p>What’s really going on? Are you “milking the system” here in the US?</p>

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<p>Good job searching all my former posts… not that it affects the arguments presented in any way.</p>

<p>I think the issue here is that you fail to understand what diplomacy is really about. First bear in mind that foreign diplomats comprise an extremely small percentage of the population of any country. Even if they are milking the system, the effect would be so small that you would better put your efforts in mitigating other problems that your government already suffers, instead of blaming it on foreign diplomats. Hospitability is something all diplomats, whatever the nationality or socioeconomic background, are entitled to. This is also the UN’s policy on diplomats. In fact, it is standard courtesy on the part of the US government to do this. I will not elaborate, but I think you know what I mean. </p>

<p>So why does my government send me here if I am too poor to pay for free lunch? The simple answer is that my own government is quite poor… and the US understands that many of its foreign diplomats will come from disadvantage countries. It understands that it must provide for those diplomats, since that is a golden rule of maintaining international relations. I have saved over $500 from free lunch benefits, and that is a lot for me… but nothing compared to what the US govt. makes… If you wanted to blame someone, blame your own country’s allocative efficiency in the market. Te US government is one of most inefficient in the world, and no one in their right mind would place that blame on foreign diplomats.</p>

<p>It is true that one of my parents is a high-ranked diplomat, but there is still no reason why that should automatically correspond to a high ability to pay by American standards… they can pay some for college, but that is money they saved specifically for that purpose.</p>

<p>And if one day, the US economy becomes weaker than that of other countries, I wonder how US diplomats will react when they are sent to those countries. It is very obvious the US government, at its current state, can well pay all its diplomats, but it should not expect the same from other countries. </p>

<p>I would expect some better reasoning and knowledge from an adult with over 30,000 posts…</p>

<p>Any good responses to my defense are welcome.</p>

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<p>*
So why does my government send me here if I am too poor to pay for free lunch?*</p>

<p>Why should we believe that you really are poor if you also say that your family can pay $15k per year for college? I don’t know any poor people who can pay that much.</p>

<p>Where will THAT money come from?</p>

<p>*Hospitability is something all diplomats, whatever the nationality or socioeconomic background, are entitled to. *</p>

<p>Hospitality is one thing…welfare is another. The country is already being hospitable to you by giving you a free K-12 education…which in New York is probably about $12k per year or more.</p>

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<p>Disingenuous comes to mind</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids -</p>

<p>The family is not “on welfare”. The kids are getting free/reduced school lunches. Those are different things. The regulations that govern free/reduced lunches are distinct from the regulations governing food stamps, temporary assistance to needy families, and other government programs. Heck, I know people with five or six kids who have enough family income to live where and how they are living, and occasionally even with some savings for college, who still qualify for free/reduced school lunches because of the way the formula is designed.</p>

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<p>When I used the word “welfare”, I was using it in the generic sense as “getting a gov’t freebie” based on being low income. It’s a benefit to improve a low income’s family’s “welfare.” In the old days, it was called “charity”. </p>

<p>I do find it offensive that any gov’t would send a high-ranking diplomat (or any diplomat) to this country and then pay him so little that his kids get “free lunch”. Frankly, I don’t believe that is really happening. Since the student is claiming that the family can pay $15k per year for college, then that suggests that the family is using the fact that they don’t pay taxes here as a way to look like they’re low income. </p>

<p>Since the UN is based here in the US, there are thousands and thousands of diplomats here, many with k-12 kids, going to school here for free, and if many/most are able to get “free lunch” because they can claim to have no income here or that their countries pay them too little, that’s crazy. </p>

<p>And, I don’t buy this “from a poor country” stuff. Even poor countries have their elite classes that earn good money. And, when you consider that these diplomats are likely getting some kind of free housing or housing supplements from their gov’ts, then their incomes sure can go further than the incomes of families who pay their rents out of their income. </p>

<p>I sure hope that the state of NY gets reimbursed in some way for educating all these kids, too. If it’s reimbursed by the feds, then of course, the US taxpayer is paying…again.</p>

<p>Sorry, I just don’t buy this “we’re low income” stuff when they can pay $15k per year for college. Low income people don’t have $60k (per kid!) to pay for college.</p>

<p>Since the OP lectured another student in another thread for wanting to leave off the word, “co” in his listing of President of a club. The OP felt that was dishonest. Well…that is minor compared to what seems to be going on with this free lunch thing.</p>

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<p>I understand what you are saying, and I realize that I might be making myself look like a hypocrite. I did post in another section about honesty, but I stand by that post. I am doing nothing dishonest here. I am doing something that you might not agree it, but it is not the same thing as lying. A liar would remain quiet about this. </p>

<p>You are correct that since UN is based in New York, lots of permanent missions to the UN are based in New York. Embassies and consulates are also spread around DC, Boston, NYC, and Hartford. I am not sure whether the state pays for the education of diplomats. I do know that having an A1/G1 visa (the diplomatic visa) allows students to qualify for state residency at the state from which their parents are based (for the purposes of eligiblity for financial aid at state schools), but I do not know whether these funds are reimbursed by the federal govt.</p>

<p>It’s true that even poor countries have some rich people since the Lorenz curve is generally the same in all countries. But most rich people from any country are from the business sector, and the ministry of foreign affairs in almost any country is a bureaucratic office, not a business one. Civil servants in general only make a middle-class income by the standards of the country in which they come from. This would apply even (though to a lesser extent) to diplomats. Remember that the US GDP per capita is over 100x than in the poorest countries of the world. </p>

<p>The fact that we can pay 15k a year for college is quite irrelevant. As I mentioned earlier, this amount reflects savings and not necessarily income. There are some extremely disadvantaged people from India and China who sell their land to save enough to apply for US universities. Would you say that means they are a priveleged group, since they can pay 20k a year for college? 20k that came from selling the land and gold that their ancestors saved over the centuries? They simply expected that they would need to save money for their children, and understanding the circumstances, they forewent some of their belongings to accommodate for this. Would you think they should be eligible for some kind of reduced lunch? It’s true they’re not US citizens, but what if they were? </p>

<p>Diplomats, as I mentioned earlier, are entitled to basic courtesy. The only time, in political theory, that these rights could be revoked is if the diplomat’s country is at war with the host country, but if the host country does insist to maintain the good relations, why should it be prevented from doing so? Throughout much of history, governments have always willing received diplomats and provided for them, since good diplomacy is the icon of good relations between nations. And again, the fraction of diplomats is so small that their expenses are negligible compared to that of the entire country’s.</p>

<p>But I want to understand something. Who are actually blaming in your posts? Me? My parents? My country’s government? The US government? I don’t know what to you expect me to do… do you expect me to stop providing my lunch forms, when my school clearly insists that I should do so? Do you expect me to leave the country, when the US clearly insists that it wants delegates from all countries in its UN conferences?</p>

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<p>*Diplomats, as I mentioned earlier, are entitled to basic courtesy. *</p>

<p>Where did you get the idea that “basic courtesy” means a free lunch? That’s not what “basic courtesy” means. </p>

<p>*<br>
But I want to understand something. Who are actually blaming in your posts? Me? My parents? My country’s government? The US government? I don’t know what to you expect me to do… do you expect me to stop providing my lunch forms, when my school clearly insists that I should do so? *</p>

<p>No school demands that students complete school lunch forms. My kids went thru 13 years of school and never filled out a form. THE ONLY STUDENTS that fill out the forms are the one who WANT the free/reduced lunch. It’s not obligatory. Is that what your parents told you? If they did, they are wrong. The reason it’s not obligatory is because no one is obligated to give their income to their kids’ K-12 public school. NO ONE.</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids, I am 19 and went to Elementary-College in North Carolina. In Elementary, Middle, and High-School, we were required to turn in the lunch forms that qualified students for the free or reduced lunch. I remember two-weeks into the school year being given another copy because my mom did not fill it out (we never qualified). My teacher in middle school said it was required because the school got so much money for the percentage turned in (not sure if it is true, but that is what I was told). Regardless, I believe the poster in saying it is required because it most definitely was for me as well.</p>

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</p>

<p>Perhaps your children attend school in an affluent school district or a school district where the SES is such that most families do qualify for free/reduced lunch so the school does not bother to collect the information.</p>

<p>The Op is correct in his statement regarding free lunch. Many schools require that students fill out the free lunch forms whether they are eligible for free/reduced lunch or not for just the reasons that James Jr. mentioned. One does not have to be a citizen or permanent resident in public school in order to qualify for free or reduced lunch benefits. They simply must be on the roster at the public school, submit the paperwork and meet the eligibility requirements.</p>

<p>It is one’s eligibility for free/reduced lunch that drives title I funding for after school, additional tutoring, literacy programs, purchase instructional materials etc. </p>

<p>Schools receive Title 1 funding based on the percentage of their student enrollment that qualifies as being low-income. Low-income students are the children that are on free or reduced lunch. </p>

<p>Parents can complete an application for free or reduced lunch at the beginning of each school year. To qualify, the family must meet income requirements based on the number of members in the family. </p>

<p>The percentage of low-income students at a federal Title 1 school must be at least as high as the overall percentage of the district, or the percentage must be at least 35%. </p>

<p>[No</a> Child Left Behind (NCLB)](<a href=“http://www.greatschools.org/definitions/nclb/nclb.html]No”>http://www.greatschools.org/definitions/nclb/nclb.html)</p>

<p>In addition, the college board now requires the number of students by grade on your roster who are eligible for free/reduced lunch by grade when they disburse fee waivers to your school.</p>

<p>The NYC public school system now participates in a FAFSA completion data project where schools will receive FAFSA completion status data for currently enrolled 12th grade students who are on track to graduate and are eligible to complete FAFSA.</p>

<p>[Opportunities</a> announced the week of Tuesday, December 13, 2011 (in chronological order) - High Schools - New York City Department of Education](<a href=“http://schools.nyc.gov/Teachers/Resources/Other/ProfessionalDevelopment/HighSchools/default.htm]Opportunities”>http://schools.nyc.gov/Teachers/Resources/Other/ProfessionalDevelopment/HighSchools/default.htm)</p>