What You Must Do After You Fill Out Your College Financial Aid Forms: Fill & Download for Free

1430???75% of the admitted freshmen to MIT and Caltech scored higher than a 1510.If admitted, MIT, Caltech and Stanford will all provide you with up to Full Financial aid, after you and All of your parents fill out a daunting number of forms that must be verified by an independent agency in your country that is trusted by the college.But the basic SAT exam is but One Percent of what it is considered in a college application for those universities.What about the other 99%, what do you have for that???

Before one discusses financial aid, one must know the total cost against which the aid is measured.The total cost of a Year (two semesters) at a college includes:TuitionFeesLiving costs ("Room")Cost for food ("Board")Cost for booksTravel related costs (typically two round trips to/from your home per year)Some miscellaneous expensesFor many of the private colleges, that total amount currently can approach $68,000 for one year. It typically increases by roughly 5% per year.Financial aid is divided into two parts:A reduction in the total costLoans to assist in paying a portion of what you owe (spreading the cost over future years)The reduction in cost can be in four forms:Merit Scholarship: Based upon your perceived academic skills, you are awarded a set amount of money to apply towards your total cost. This is Not guaranteed for four years, unless you meet certain minimum grade requirements and credits earned per yearAthletic Scholarship: If the college you are attending is in the NCAA D-1 or D-2 leagues, there is a set amount of money that the college may give to you to reduce your total cost. These also are awarded on a year by year basis depending upon your "perceived worth" to the athletic team, as viewed by the coaching staffGrants based upon need: The college receives your FAFSA application through the Federal Government, plus (possibly) the PROFILE form, plus copies of your parents (both) and your recent Federal Income tax forms, plus a verification from the IRS. Based upon all of that the college determines your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The college subtracts the EFC from the total cost and the remainder is what you can not afford (NOTE the EFC includes what the college Expects you to earn through summer jobs, each summer). If the college has some spare cash, they will award you a grant to reduce what you need. That could be the maximum of what you need, but is typically less (see loans).Pell Grant: If you are an US citizen or permanent resident, you may be eligible (based upon the FAFSA forms) for a Federal grant to reduce what you owe to the college.Loans:After all of the above Reductions, there is an amount that you and your family owes to the college each year. Whether it is only the EFC or an amount above the EFC, the college along with the Federal government will approve you for a Federal Loan. That would be a Stafford loan. The maximum is $5,500 for freshmen, $6,500 for sophomores, and $7,000 for upper class students. The max would be $26,000 for four years, but the Feds will let you borrow more if you need a 5th year to graduate.If you still need more money, then you can turn to Private Loans from banks and other financial agencies. These typically carry a Much higher interest rate than the Stafford loans and the interest always starts immediately. Also, you can Never shed this loan through personal bankruptcy, so always be Very careful about a private loanRule of thumb: Estimate what you expect, on average, to make as an annual salary upon graduation. Never (if possible) borrow more than 50% of that. And if truly desperate, maybe as much as 100% of that, but NEVER more. If you still can't afford the college, find another college......Those who violate that rule of thumb can end up in a truly bad financial disaster later in life.......NOTE:Scholarship is typically a term applied to the Merit Scholarship noted above or the Athletic Scholarship noted above.A Grant is based only upon Need.And all of those, I repeat ALL OF THOSE, can be changed by the college each and every year. You must fill out the FAFSA and sometimes the PROFILE forms every year and every year you must submit copies of your most current IRS tax forms (Both parents and the student).If you are an international student (not an US citizen nor permanent resident) there are No Federal loans. There are No Pell grants. There are No private loans Unless you get an US citizen or a permanent resident (of at least two years) to co-sign the loan, which means They pay in full if you default......... There may be grants from the college, but how are you going to Prove your EFC to the college??????Welcome to the wonderful world of college finances.If you are intelligent enough to attend college, then you Better be intelligent enough to figure all of this out, Including a cost-benefit analysis of the college you wish to attend, its graduation rate, and the starting salaries of the average graduate from that college.If not, then do NOT take out a loan. Period.

First, forget the word Scholarship (unless you believe you will be recruited by an US college to play a NCAA sport at the Division One level for an Athletic Scholarship).Instead start using the term: Financial Aid.There are a number of elite Private US universities (at least 40 to 50 or more) that will provide up to Full financial aid for an international student. However, that will require you and All of your parents to fill out a daunting number of forms. See Apply for College Financial Aid for examples of the types of information that Must be provided on those forms.Less than 2% of the international freshman applicants who require financial aid are admitted to those colleges, but if admitted they Will provide up to full financial aid.Therefore, after reviewing US and some Canadian colleges here (University & College Search Tool ) sit down with your High School guidance counselor and determine which of those 40 to 50+ colleges are a good fit for You and for which you have at least an outside chance of being admitted.Then apply to two or three and fill out those financial aid application forms.You never know until you try.HOWEVER, also apply to colleges in your country as a good Back Up plan.All the best.