2014-2015 Financial Aid Request: Fill & Download for Free

Stanford undergraduate admissions is as different from its graduate admissions process as undergraduate admissions as a whole is different from graduate admissions. Undergrad and grad are completely different ball games.Like most other U.S. colleges and universities, for its undergraduate class Stanford values a student's holistic aptitude as measured by high school achievement in academics and extracurricular activities, as well as creativity, personality, and institutional fit as captured in that student's interests and application essays. Students indicate their potential academic interests in college but are not bound to these interests; they are admitted to study at Stanford as a whole and can choose whatever majors they desire.The graduate process is different in that students apply directly to a graduate program that focuses on their own interests. Undergraduate academic excellence, aptitude, and experience (for instance, research or job experience) in fields relevant to their graduate program are the primary criteria for selection. Being well-rounded and having many extracurricular interests, while tangentially helpful, are not necessarily very important in a graduate application. Note that different graduate programs have very different specific criteria and vary in terms of selectivity.In particular, for international students, undergrad is arguably much more difficult to apply to, as only about 8% of undergraduate students in 2014-2015 were international students. Although the figure is somewhat biased, as many international students who would consider the U.S. for graduate school never considered attending a U.S. university or college for their undergraduate degree, this gives you a rough idea of the challenge. (See How hard is it for an international student to get accepted at Stanford University? for more details.) Additionally, while admission is need-blind for domestic applicants, a request for financial aid figures into the admissions process for an international applicant.In contrast, for graduate school, Stanford is less biased against international students (but still biased somewhat). Roughly a third of all Stanford graduate students are international. While many schools still have a large preference for domestic students due to government allocation of graduate training funding explicitly for domestic students, Stanford exhibits less of a tendency against international students due to its immense resources (both institutional and on a department or individual investigator basis) for research and graduate training.

Q. Will Caltech provide financial aid to all accepted international students? I am a Canadian student and was accepted today, but the financial aid decisions aren’t out. Caltech is too expensive, especially due to the USD-CND conversion rate. I applied for financial aid, but I’m worried they won’t provide enough money for me to attend. Would they accept me and not give me FA?Frequently Asked QuestionsGeneral QuestionsIDOCGeneral QuestionsDo you have any merit scholarships?No. Caltech does not have a merit scholarship program at this time. Our financial aid is strictly need-based.How do I apply for financial aid?The process of applying for financial aid will differ depending on your specific circumstances. Instructions for applying and links to the appropriate forms are all available under the Applying tab of this website. Please contact us if you need any assistance in completing your financial aid application.I missed one of the deadlines; can I still apply for financial aid?Yes. Our application deadlines are considered "priority deadlines." Meeting these deadlines ensures that your financial aid application is reviewed as early as possible. If you miss one of our deadlines, you may still submit your remaining materials, and your financial aid eligibility will not be affected negatively. We understand that receiving a timely financial aid offer is important to you, but we cannot rush to process your application if you turned in some of your materials late.Please note that the above advice only applies to our general application deadlines. Other financial aid deadlines, such as the deadline to apply for Summer Work-Study, are more strict, so we cannot accept late application materials in these cases.I can't get my noncustodial parent to submit an NCP PROFILE.We will need to evaluate your situation personally before we can decide how to proceed. If you are having trouble acquiring your noncustodial parent's information, please contact us for assistance.How do I correct my PROFILE?Domestic StudentsIf you are simply trying to update your PROFILE with the information from your most recent tax return, there's no reason to make a correction to your PROFILE. You should update your FAFSA instead, as you can make corrections online. We'll be able to transfer the data from your FAFSA to your PROFILE on our end.If you need to make changes to anything other than your tax information, you can print a copy of your PROFILE and write the changes in manually. Send us a copy of your corrections by e-mail.International StudentsYou can correct your PROFILE by printing out a copy and writing the changes in on paper. When you have made all the necessary changes, send it to us by e-mail.Are international students eligible for financial aid?You can receive financial aid as a new international undergraduate applicant if you complete the financial aid application and you have some financial need. If you do not apply or are not accepted for financial aid during your first year, you will not be eligible for financial aid during any other academic year, unless you are a citizen or permanent resident of Canada or Mexico.When will I be notified about my financial aid package?Prospective StudentsIf you were admitted Early Action and submitted your financial aid application by the Early Action priority deadlines, you’ll most likely receive a financial aid offer in February. If you submit your documents late and we do not have enough time to process your financial aid application by the end of February, your financial aid application will be reviewed later, along with the Regular Decision applicants.If you were admitted Regular Decision, you should expect to receive you financial aid offers in April, provided you have completed your financial aid application by then.Continuing StudentsYou will most likely receive your financial aid offer in late May, as long as you have completed your financial aid application by then. Our office will continue to release offers throughout the summer in case you need extra time to complete your application.Can you match my offer from another school?No. Caltech's financial aid is need-based, which means the amount of aid you receive is linked to your family's financial circumstances. To qualify for more aid, you would need to provide new information about your family's financial situation that we did not originally take into account when reviewing your application. (See how to appeal your financial aid decision.)How do I appeal my financial aid decision?If you have new information about your family's financial or household circumstances, we may be able to revise your financial aid package. To be considered for an appeal, please send us a signed statement detailing your situation. You should include all relevant documentation, if applicable. You may send your signed statement to us as an attachment to an e-mail.Can I have a CSS PROFILE fee waiver?We cannot waive the CSS PROFILE fee. The PROFILE automatically screens first-time domestic applicants for a need-based fee waiver. If it is asking you to pay to file your PROFILE, then you did not qualify for the fee waiver.I'm having trouble accessing the My Financial Aid module on access.caltech.The My Financial Aid site only fully supports Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. If you are attempting to use Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, or any other browser, you will need to switch browsers in order to access My Financial Aid.If you are using a supported browser and are still encountering technical errors, please let us know.I can't get a tax transcript/use the Data Retrieval Tool.There are several different factors that may prevent you from obtaining a tax transcript or using the Data Retrieval Tool. First, you will not be eligible to use either of these tools if you:Are a victim of identity theftAre a resident of certain US territories or freely associated statesIn addition, you will not be able to use the Data Retrieval Tool, but can still request a tax transcript if you:Filed an amended tax return (only your original return will be available)Filed "Married Filing Separately" on your latest tax returnOnce you know that you are eligible to use one of these tools, you must ensure that enough time has passed since your tax return was processed by the IRS. The amount of time it will take for these tools to become available depends on some of the circumstances of your tax return. Use the table below to help determine when your tax information will become available.If you feel that your tax information should be available but you are still unable to request this information, the automated systems may be having trouble verifying your identity. When you are filling in your personal information into one of the IRS systems, be sure that your information exactly matches the information from your most recent tax return. This includes your name, SSN, date of birth, address and tax filing status. The address is particularly finicky on both systems: the entire address, including all abbreviations, must match your tax return. For example, 100 Sharp Street Apt 14 is not the same as 100 Sharp Street #14 or 100 Sharp St Apt 14.If you are attempting to request a tax transcript, you will be asked a few questions about previous demographic information and your credit history. These questions can be difficult to answer, but are necessary in order to acquire a tax transcript. It is useful to have a copy of your credit report on hand when attempting to answer these questions.If you are still unable to use both of the IRS tools, please let us know, and we will be happy to assist you personally.How does underloading affect my financial aid?When you take less than a full-time courseload, your tuition charge will be reduced based on how many credits you are taking. Because your cost of attendance is reduced, your financial aid must be reduced as well. The financial aid reduction will generally come out of your Caltech Scholarship.Due to a recent policy change, if you first entered the Institute in fall 2012 or later, your tuition will not be reduced based on your courseload. Your financial aid, however, will be reduced. This means that you will be charged the same amount of tuition, but receive less financial aid to cover it.More specific information, including what you can expect based on your enrollment status, is available in the full underloading policy.IDOCDo I need to send my documents to IDOC?All undergraduates who are applying for financial aid, except for prospective international students, need to submit their required financial aid documents to IDOC. Once you have submitted your documents to IDOC, you can send copies of any documents you may have missed directly to us by e-mail.Caltech is not listed as one of my IDOC schools.Caltech works with IDOC differently than most other schools. Caltech will not request your information from IDOC until after you have been accepted for admission. This means that Caltech will not be present on your list of schools on the IDOC website, and you will not see any Caltech-specific forms in your required document list. Please review our list of required documents carefully and be prepared to submit them all to IDOC, even if IDOC does not appear to be requesting some of them. IDOC will process them and keep them on file; once you are admitted, your Caltech-specific documents will be delivered to us.When will I hear from IDOC?Caltech will request your information from IDOC only after you have been admitted and submitted either your CSS PROFILE or FAFSA. Early Action admits who have submitted their PROFILE and/or FAFSA will not have their information requested until mid-December due to Caltech's processing schedule.Can my noncustodial parent submit his/her documents through IDOC, too?Noncustodial parents will be able to upload their tax returns and any other necessary information through the IDOC website. Information submitted by the custodial parent will not be shared with the noncustodial parent and vice versa. Other personal information, such as contact information and Social Security numbers, will also not be shared with the other parent.When will IDOC finish processing my documents?IDOC will not process any of your uploaded documents until you have submitted a complete current year tax return (or appropriate Non-Tax Filer's Statement). We will not be able to calculate your financial aid eligibility without your tax return, either, so this shouldn't be a major issue.Once IDOC has received your documents, all of your data will be processed in 2-3 days and delivered to your IDOC schools shortly thereafter. We encourage all students to use the electronic upload option to avoid shipping delays, which will slow down your application. Remember, if you turn in parts of your financial aid application in late, we cannot rush to process your application.IDOC is asking me to send a W-2, but I didn't receive one for 2014.If you filed a 2015 tax return but did not receive a W-2, you will need to file a W-2 Waiver with IDOC. This form will be available directly on the IDOC website's document list. You can access it by clicking "Click here if you did not receive a W-2 for this year" next to the W-2 requirement.Can I submit my documents to IDOC as they become available?You should upload all your required documents to IDOC at the same time, or submit them all in one packet if you send them by mail. If you missed a requirement when you initially submitted your information to IDOC, you can send us the missing form(s) by e-mail.When should I submit my documents to IDOC?The IDOC website will keep track of each of your school's IDOC deadlines. Since you should submit all of your forms at once, be prepared to submit all of your required documents by your earliest deadline. Keep in mind that if you have not yet been admitted to Caltech, our deadline will not appear on the IDOC website. We have listed our deadlines below for your reference:Applicant TypeIDOC DeadlineProspective, Early Action January 6th, 2017Prospective, Regular Decision March 16th, 2017Continuing Student April 20th, 2017

Here is a satellite image taken of Scotland at night in 2012.Here is a satellite image taken of Scotland at night taken just a few years later in 2016 after Scotland (now titled the Democratic People’s Republic of Keltland, the DPRK) voted for independence.The Post Independence satellite image was obtained when HMG scientists tapped into a satellite orbiting an Earth within a parallel universe to our own. That parallel Earth diverged from our own timeline when Scotland had its independence referendum in 2014. In our universe Scotland voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. Scotland of Parallel Earth (designated Earth 21) voted in favour of independence.Immediately after the vote the Scottish National Party (SNP) of Scotland, Earth 21, set about strong-arming the rest of the UK into handing over many billions of British pounds worth of platinum, gold and silver to Scotland and into transferring hundreds of billions of pound sterling (GBP) to the Bank of Scotland. The United Kingdom held fast against these demands so the SNP forbade all travel between Scotland and the United Kingdom and closed the border between Scotland and England. In response the United Kingdom forcibly removed UK assets from Scotland, ceased to provide financial aid to Scotland and began to police with arms the borders between Scotland and England.In 2016, after Scotland’s UK debt settlement talks broke down the United Kingdom seized all Scottish coastal waters inc. all associated resources found therein. This was accomplished with the help of the islands around Scotland all of which voted to part ways with independent Scotland and to remain within the United Kingdom.Scotland, Earth 21 was rebranded in 2015 by the SNP to the new name of The Democratic People’s Republic of Keltland (DPRK). It continues to be governed by the SNP which suspended democracy post independence to maintain a strong stable government while Scotland negotiates with the UK and digs itself out of the equivalent of its 1 trillion pound and growing debt mountain.Scotland, Earth 21’s leading export is whiskey; its official currency is The Grain in denominations of Barley, Corn, Rye, and Wheat. It is illegal to ferment The Grain in Scotland without official permit; punishment for unlicensed grain fermentation is forced public imbibement until death.Scotland, Earth 21 approached the EU, Russia and United States for aid but requests were denied pending the restoration of democracy. North Korea currently sends weekly food shipments and candles in return for whiskey shipments.Dear Scotland, our Scotland, do not become like Scotland, Earth 21. Maintain your relationship with the United Kingdom and together we will weather the storms that hit us and bathe in the summers that warm our souls.