Here are the rules for eligible non citizens for federal financial aid: Federal Student Aid.
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I posted above what is required. It used to be BF required the fafsa to be filed, so citizen or qualified non-citizen. That requirement ended years ago and it was just the āgraduate from a Florida schoolā but now that has changed to āus citizen or citizen of a qualified country.ā If OP is a citizen of a qualified country, he has until Aug 31 to apply for BF (you have to apply by 8/31 of the year you graduate from hs, and it used to be you had to start using it within 1 year, so you could take a gap year but not more than that The requirements will not be the same for Florida BF or qualifying for Florida grants as for federal aid. Thatās just Florida for you.
Those private florida schools are pretty expensive. Most of the financial aid packages consider that the student will also qualify for a Pell grant, BF, the Florida EASE grant (for residents going to a private school), SEOG, FL-SEOG and these will all stack with any grants the schools give.
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Thanks. So, itās changed to ācitizen of a qualified countryā as long as the student is a FL resident&graduated from a FL HS - and I saw that each college would determine what that encompasses.
So, each 4-year public university in Florida should have information about these.
@fzx: college advising seems to have been lacking at your HS, so do you know what the possible public universities in FL are?
(Note that in Florida, a public college= a community college, but a private college= a university, for instance Rollins or Eckerd.)
Note that if youāve got excellent grades and an interesting for them ( * ) profile, some top colleges do not distinguish between citizens and non citizens.
(* it may not be interesting to you but it could be to themā¦ for instance, an applicant didnāt think being bilingual was a big deal since everyone around him spoke English and Spanishā¦ except thatās not the case in Connecticut or Maine and is thus a way to distinguish yourself in their applicant pool. Just one example.)
Just want to say how impressed I am with your academic achievements. A 1380 SAT is NOT just āokā ā itās the 90th percentile! Thatās amazing, especially given that (I assume) English is not your first language. And, you graduated near the top of your class. Take a moment to celebrate how well you have done and follow the great advice on this thread about how to pursue college.
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I donāt think thatās correct. A hs student applies to BF directly, not through a college. One must apply by Aug 31 after hs graduation and there is no requirement to apply to a college by that date. Once it is awarded, every college in Florida, even private ones, accept BF. The colleges can determine how it is used. For example, at my daughterās college it could ONLY be used for tuition; not for fees, not for study abroad, not for insurance or r&b or anything else. Fortunately (sarcasm) there was plenty of tuition that needed to be paid. Other colleges allow it to be used for study abroad, fees, or just generally on the bill.
The colleges also have to certify the the student still qualifies for BF. Unfortunately, many do lose it because they donāt take 12 credits, donāt take the right courses like you canāt take a no credit class, repeat a class as part of the 12 credits, drop classes during the semester to take you below 12 credits.
OP should apply for BF. If he doesnāt qualify, BF will tell him that but the hs people shouldnāt be making that determination.
I looked at a website that seemed legit.
That may be what theyāre referring to: āeligible noncitizen, as determined by the studentās postsecondary institutionā
But the full reference is here:
https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/SAPBFMAIN/SAPBFMAIN
I saw that eligibility can change after each legislative session.
I agree OP should apply by August 31.
@MassMom321 thank you! yeah i am bilingual just to make that clear
@MYOS1634 no, i donāt have to use the scholarships for this fall; latest I can use them is spring 2024. while i could do that, i think it may have drawbacks; the cc offers its own scholarships for students. first round of scholarships opens in august and the second round is around february. assuming that you can apply for both if you start in fall, i could be losing potential extra money (even if i dont really know if Iāll need it given what I already have, but still.)
i dont know my exact EFC. when i filled out my fafsa since my understanding is that im not an eligible non-citizen i declared so in the application. when you do that they really donāt give you any info.
some more details since you asked and theyād probably be helpful:
3.9uw, 5.6w gpa
my math progression was alg1, geo hon, alg2hon and then precalc honors. sidenote: loved my precalc teacher bc he wanted us to succeed so he challenged us w/ projects and i did a project where i designed a fake, unit-circle-themed over-the-counter medicine product. like Iām talking designing the packaging using Illustrator, Photoshop and other software then printing it all out to fold into a box. I already had experience w/ Photoshop for image manipulation and making posters but that project really developed me and Iām still really proud of what I made.
in terms of science i took physical sci, bio, chem 1 hon and forensic sci. chem was engaging since our teacher wanted us to succeed.
i took the two AP spanish classes in order junior and senior year. now that AP scores for this year came out literally two days ago i can say I got a 5 on both. before that i took ASL sophomore year so of the 2 needed world-lang credits to graduate i graduated with 3
i also took 6 other APs: english comp (4), english lit (4), apush (3), world history (4) and macro & microecon (3 both). for my lower AP scores ive kind of come to a mental state where im willing to retake the classes in college if I have to, since i didnāt learn very effectively and itād be nice to have a second try at them.
like i said my highest SAT was 1380
when I previously visited the community college, faculty checked my student account and i was told that through my AP classes i have at least 16 credits already, though I donāt know if thatās only for the placeholder AA degree I selected (computer science)ā¦
and also the cc has my hs transcript, but the credits thing was before I sent them my transcript fairly recently
still trying to figure out what visa i have
the public universities here in FL that iām looking at are USF, FSU, UF, FIU and UCF. the CC has a guaranteed admissions program to transfer to USF smoothly but from looking at the transfer agreements page, they donāt really have anything for UF which kinda sucks for me since iād like to transfer to UF because itās probably the best uni in the state. however i also have to admit that my research on all these public colleges is severely lacking and i need to do more. for example iāve gone to USF about twice for journalism competitions ā i liked the campus ā and i know that they could likely give me good merit aid if i apply early but thatās about it.
i guess thereās little point in being secretive about it so to be fully transparent, the cc in question is hillsborough community college.
it does indeed have a honors program, as faculty told me. they also told me apparently thereās separate scholarships for the honors program? and opportunities to travel abroad? so that sounds really fun to me.
last thing iāll add is that in regards to bright futures, i guess i shouldnāt just throw in the towel. if i want to give it a shot though i might have to scramble to do as much community service as i can; i did community service not just with one organization, but i also did it at the school level. however, profferfish (the website we use to register our hours) only has the hours i did with that one organization (48 hours), since i donāt really know how to register those others hours i did at school and other organizations. if i register everything somehow, i believe iād have around 60 hours total based on my own records.
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Ask your school counselor how to register your hours or get busy and do some more hours. There are a lot of opportunities.
Make sure you are allowed to travel outside the US if you are still waiting on amnesty or a visa. Many programs would start your time over. (or worse case, you canāt return to the US) if you leave.
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@fzx : How are you doing?
hi! sorry for the late reply, i havenāt been on these forums in a while.
so in the end i enrolled at my local community college and iām paying with my scholarship money. after some career assessments and thinking about my strengths and weaknesses, iām choosing to get an associateās in architecture. itās going fairly well; iām in my collegeās honors program and academically iām doing great. iām hoping to start getting more involved extracurricular-wise this coming semester too.
iām hoping to transfer to UF but iām generally trying to build my list to include the more prestigious colleges all over the U.S. that could potentially give me great aid offers. i still have to do more research into all the different unis and their architecture programs; i find myself almost sabotaging myself from doing so out of the feeling that iām not good enough, i guess, so thereās that
right now iām not looking forward to having to do fafsa, since last year i didnāt get anything from it because of my situation and i likely wonāt this time around either. i wish those who complain about fafsa while still getting something from it would realize that they are at least getting something.
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Good start! Please go and talk with the transfer advisor at your community college. Please!
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Look carefully at your program - whether itās pre B.Arch or an AAS that qualifies you to be an architectās assistant.
Also, most colleges that offer excellent FA donāt actually have a B.Arch, though they may have something like an Architecture studies minor. You could always go with the path of any major+design/art minor ā Masters degree.
You have to consider all this to set yourself up the best way you can wrt your goals.
How are your grades so far? Are you getting a 4.0 or close (3.75, 3.8+)?
What classes are you taking?
Ideally youād be taking English/Composition, a visual art or design class, calculus1, the intermediate level of a foreign language and either a social science or a science for non majors (perhaps Art History or related?)
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i have a 3.73 right now (3 Aās and one B) and that semester i took:
- architectural design 1
- architectural history
- honors leadership
- precalculus with trigonometry
i already have a bunch of gen ed requirements thanks to AP classes hence why i didnāt take any form of english composition
this next semester iām going to take:
- architectural design 2
- fundamentals of physics with lab
- honors sociology
- honors public speaking
thereās 4 architectural design classes required as part of the AA
and my collegeās honors program requires students to take 2 honors classes per semester (though 1st semester i didnāt because i wouldāve been overloaded)
yeah i expect to eventually take calc1
i already have the foreign language reqās again thanks to AP
the only other requirement that i skipped thanks to AP was macroeconomics
Excellent job!
Youāll need to take more advanced Physics courses so make sure to get an A in Fundamentals of Physics.
Isnāt the normal load 5 courses (15-16 credits)? (It looks a bit light).
Make sure to take Art history and calculus next semester.
What colleges are you aiming for?
hi! hereās an update for anyone who was wondering:
yeah, my load this semester was fairly light, but the summer is going to be more intense. iām going to take calculus fall semester.
right now my list includes UF, USF, FIU, UCF, UTAustin, NC State, UKansas; iām going to expand on it more, especially since iām going to use the summer to start putting together my architecture portfolio.
i guess iād just like to use this thread as a way to express my thoughts, 2 semesters later: iāve realized that maybe i was being dramatic about college because itās only the biggest thing iāve experienced in my life thus far. however i still feel disillusioned by this institution and the hand that it has dealt me as an immigrant with a very specific legal status. itās not fun knowing that you literally cannot get anything from FAFSA and that it will remain that way for years because the U.S. hasnāt been accepting asylum seeker cases for a while. itās not fun attempting to explain the college process to your parents who are unbeknownst to it. itās not fun realizing that my legal status is literally holding me back, and that my accomplishments can well be overshadowed or nullified just because of it. et cetera et cetera, i really could go on. i think i understand why a lot of immigrants to the U.S, especially us hispanic immigrants, tend to be less likely to obtain a full post-secondary education (and i only got a small taste of what that pain is like). either way, i just hope to make other prospective/current college students realize that they are blessed to be born into this country and receive the financial treatment that comes with that. i also hope that other students in my situation realize that theyāre not alone and that i would never wish this burden upon anyone. call me pessimistic but i just truly think that ādisillusionmentā is what i really feel: i can see that my disillusionment blinds me enough to almost see forums and communities like this one (no offense) as very nice places that i will never be privy to because of factors outside of my control. same goes with the stereotypical, fancy American dorm-life university student experience. iām just not an American.
thanks
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Iām so sorry you feel like that and understand where youāre coming from. 
Your legal status (and your parents) WILL NOT be taken into account at the following colleges AFAIK - they are very selective but will meet 100% financial need without the FAFSA (using forms called CSS).
Amherst
Bates
Brown
Carleton
Case Western Reserve
Columbia
Connecticut College
Cornell
Dartmouth
Denison
Emory
Grinnell
Harvard
Lafayette
Ĺehigh
Macalester
Middlebury
Occidental
Pomona
Rice
Sewanee
Smith
Tufts
UPenn
URichmond
URochester
Vassar
Washington and Lee
Williams
For all these colleges (and there may be more), if you graduated from a US high school, you are an American.
Iām hoping that you were able to maintain your 3.7-3.8 GPA, are holding on to your job and/or are involved on campus. Because these selective colleges are your way to a financially affordable college&a better life.
Hold on. Give Finals your all. Start joining these collegesā mailing list to get on their radar.
The Ivy League, Williams, Amherst may be out of reach, but you could always apply to 1 or 2. But the rest of the list, while reaches, could be a possibility in addition to UF, UCF, etc. and the application is worth trying since theyād be affordabk
Le if you get in.
Some may have an application process in the early fall where you could start in the spring but most would have a winter/spring deadline (February, March) for enrollment in the Fall.
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You probably already know some of this but have you checked with prospective Architecture schools for them to guide you on what courses youāre currently taking (or not) might transfer over. S23 enrolled in Architecture (5 year BArch) which time and again while visiting various schools we were told āwe really donāt take transfers into this programā. I know UTAustin and NC State are 5 year programs. Not sure of the other schools. But you may need to steer more towards a 4 year program to get the credit of your AA and then continue on for a MA if you want to be licensed.
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