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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

Misdirected and confusing government support.The federal government supports students with Pell Grants and subsidized and unsubsidized student loans. It turns out that those grants and loans are part of the reason why tuition has gone up so much.The New York Fed study showedthat the increased availability of subsidized student loans and Pell Grants accounted for 55% to 65% of the increase in tuition costs, as measured by their sticker price. The greater availability of unsubsidized loans had a lower 30% pass-through effect.[1]If you receive a Pell grant of 5,000$, you really received less than half that. Most of the aid was captured by the school, raising the tuition because of the aid.Bill Bennett, the Secretary of Education under Reagan, actually recognized the trend of tuition spikes back in 1987. [2]In a more recent Times article, Bennett explained the issue again:I postulated that the availability of a large amount of federal money was driving up tuition, and in the long run making it more difficult for poor students to go. It’s common sense. The more you subsidize something, the more you get of it. And almost every college chancellor or president I met felt that their obligation was to expand and create more departments, more centers and more graduate programs. In 1970, the bottom quartile economically constituted 12 percent of the student population. In 2010, the bottom quartile constituted 7.3 percent. Poor kids look at the tuition — $40,000, $50,000 a year — and say, “Forget it.”[3]Also, the way Federal aid (Pell Grant through FAFSA) is given out is somewhat confusing. For example, it doesn’t take into account the value of your primary residence or your small business.Forbes wrote a guide to paying for college and they described a parent who owned a house worth well over $1 million, drove nice cars, and had a daughter attending MIT, receiving financial aid.They were self-employed, owning and managing a portfolio of commercial real estate and had a lot of control over the numbers that show up on the aid applications. You can withdraw less money from your business while your kid is attending the school and maximize financial aid.It is also worth keeping in mind that the vast majority of public schools and many private schools use FAFSA numbers to determine how much aid they will give to students.Not only that, state governments often award their aid based on the FAFSA as well. California has Cal Grants and State University Grants and New York has TAP.California State University system also has EOP which provides additional benefits to students.Last but not least, as many other answers pointed out, very few people pay a sticker price, especially for expensive private schools with their own endowments and financial aid departments.When you make the system this complicated, it gives advantage to people with resources like in the abovementioned example who can understand the system.A resourceful middle-class family is much more likely to get their child into the best school they can afford and maximize the aid than a poor family.Booker T. WashingtonLast Summer I read (technically listened to) Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up from Slavery, where he discusses at length the beginnings of Tuskegee University.What struck me was his insistence to teach industry to his students. By industry he meant bricklaying, farming, carpentry and all the other marketable skills which blacks could practice then.we wanted to give them such a practical knowledge of some one industry, together with the spirit of industry, thrift, and economy, that they would be sure of knowing how to make a living after they had left us. We wanted to teach them to study actual things instead of mere books alone.His advice is more relevant now than ever and applies to the American student body as a whole.Here are the most common majors in American universities today:Business - 364,000Health professions and related programs - 216,000Social sciences and history - 167,000Psychology - 118,000Biological and biomedical sciences - 110,000Engineering - 98,000Visual and performing arts - 96,000Education - 92,000Guess which ones are not marketable skills?Social sciences, psychology, and fine arts don’t give any marketable skills whatsoever. None, zero! Even business and education majors are iffy depending on the specifics.Yet people are still majoring in them, taking out student loans to attend expensive yet in some cases not even prestigious universities.5 Rules for college as an investmentDon’t go to a private school without a full scholarship unless it’s Ivy League, Stanford, Caltech, MIT or has a strong program in your major (communications at Ithaca, business and film at both USC and NYU).Don’t go to an out-of-state public school unless it’s UCLA or Georgia Tech caliber.Do go to a city college and then transfer if it offers substantial savings. Californian city colleges do that. They cost less than $1,300 as opposed to at least $7,500 for universities.Maximize your aid by learning about all the Federal, State and your particular school financial aid programs. The Forbes e-book is a great resource.Look up career prospects for your major. If they don’t teach you a marketable skill, don’t do it!If you do all of that, you’ll be fine!Washington, Booker T.. Up from Slavery (Dover Thrift Editions) (p. 48). Dover Publications. Kindle Edition.Eum, Jennifer. The Forbes Guide To Paying For College . Forbes Media. Kindle Edition.Footnotes[1] Student Aid May Be to Blame for Sky-High College Tuition: NY Fed | ThinkAdvisor[2] Our Greedy Colleges[3] Catching Up on the Bennett Hypothesis

Basically, we got into it a little bit with Iran, #WWIII started trending on Twitter, and everyone started freaking out.Part of it has to do with this:I’m bringing up FAFSA in my answer because years ago, long before anyone knew who General Soleimani was, a friend who was filling out his FAFSA freaked out when he saw the Selective Service checkbox, and his parents freaked out too. He asked me whether he should still complete his form, because he does not want to enlist in the military and die in a potential conflict. It took me a while to explain to him that he doesn’t have to worry about that.To those who may be unfamiliar with FAFSA, it’s an application that US students (like myself) sign — and then re-sign — every year in order to qualify for financial aid from the US government to pay off college expenses.According to US law, all males when they turn 18 must register with the Selective Service System, which contains a list of people that the US government can turn to if it ever needs to draft people into the military. But since Vietnam, there has been no existing mechanism through which the government can actually draft people, so the list is understood to be used only when war breaks out, and things get real bad, and the US can somehow no longer rely on the current strength and size of its Armed Forces to fight on. Unless that happens, though, the list has no real function.One must register with Selective Service in exchange for receiving anything from the US government — including financial aid. So when students sign on to their FAFSA, one of the things they must check off is that they had registered for Selective Service; or, in other words, put their information on a list that might be used by the government to draft people into the military if necessary.So the fear now is that because the US is apparently on the verge of a conflict with Iran, the US government will eventually use the Selective Service System to draft random people into the military.And since the people who filled out their FAFSA applications are mostly in their teens or twenties, they are more physically qualified than any other age group to be drafted.But the fear really is unfounded. For one, as I mentioned before, the US does not have a draft law, so even with the Selective Service System in place, the government can’t use it to call people up. And for there to be a draft, our hypothetical conflict with Iran — a country with no nukes and a military budget that is about 3% of our’s — will have to exhaust the entire United States Armed Forces with its 1,000,000+ active personnel, 800,000+ reservists, $693 billion budget, and cutting-edge technology.A war with Iran will be costly for sure, but our military-industrial complex is bloated enough to cover the costs — at the expense of the rest of us. Maybe in the form of higher taxes that are better spent elsewhere, but certainly not in the form of a military draft.To any high school seniors out there who still have doubts: register for Selective Service and do your FAFSA. You won’t be drafted because of it, and you’ll get free money from the government.