Financial Aid Discussion for Internationals

Question

This thread is started by aceman, and I merged some international questions from the US Topic here, thus his post got buried in the thread. Here's his original first post.

Hey folks, lets discuss loan options and scholarships for international student going to a US MBA program.

togafoot...self funding as in using your own cash, or getting loans from banks in the UK?

I think most big schools in the US offer loans to international students as well now, albeit at higher interest rates.

Have you thought about these? I haven't figured out my financing entirely yet, I am waiting to see if I get any scholarships from the schools and how the application to a national scholarship fund turns out.

But if I dont get good loans here, I am willing to go for the loans in the US offered to internationals.

togafoot · Answer

Still trying to calculate if i can afford to do a USA based MBA without taking a loan, all depends on which area i may end up in... I may not even get that choice if i get dinged by all the USA ones. However the Hong Kong and Singapore ones, if i get into them, i won't need to take a loan, and can still manage a reduced level of ex-pat llifestyle. (e.g full time maid)

The Manchester one is different, I get local family support, they only live 30 miles away from Manchester.

Whatever place i end up going to, i won't need to sell my house in London, and should still be able to keep my other 'savings' schemes.

branson · Answer

sweet, I can say no such thing.

I guess I am one of those applicants with the least savings and will have to take on a full load of loans. On the other hand, I can probably leverage the degree better than many. We will see. Good luck to you!

togafoot · Answer

I`m an older applicant, so i`ve had time to save a bit more. Also, i`m generally a financially prudent person. Paid off all my student loans by the time i was 25, and no credit card debt by 26 (helped by an unexepected payrise at the time). Although i will have a few more stumbling blocks when applying.

For Example, I had an interview yesterday, and their main issue was my age... to be precise, the employability of someone my age (33) when compared to a younger candidate if we are both applying to a function/industry which is new to us both, as we would be both be competing for an `entry-level mba` position.

ncp · Answer

OK. I am in a really intriguing situation as far as my visa is concerned. I have a I-485 (GC petition) pending with the USCIS. It was actually filed by my wife's employer and I am added as a beneficiary. Most student loans I researched into seem to require some form of visa with an expiry date after the school graduation date. I, unfortunately dont have or need a visa. The I-485 gives me legal status and I also have an EAD that allows me to work. Moving to an F-1 is not an option because the F1 will be denied anyway because of my pending green card.

Question : Do any of you know of folks who have obtained B-school loans with just a pending I-485? Any other alternatives for financing? For what its worth, I have a stellar credit history and my wife will be working when I am in school.

Question : Do any of you know of folks who have obtained B-school loans with just a pending I-485? Any other alternatives for financing? For what its worth, I have a stellar credit history and my wife will be working when I am in school.

svrider · Answer

nc,

I am in a similar situation w.r.t. visa status. I haven't checked out student loans yet but I did check out FAFSA forms. I couldn't figure out if a pending I-485 allows us to file a FAFSA as permanent resident. My H-1B visa is valid until 2009 so I am not sure what to do.

ncp · Answer

sv, I researched FAFSA. We are not eligible for any of the federal loans unless we get the GC or an I-551. As far as CitiAssist, YOU should be fine. For me, the problem is I dont have a H1 like you. My L1 maxed out long time ago and I dont have a secondary legal presence document to support my stay apart from the 485. All the loans I looked at want me to produce a visa with an expiry date later than my graduation date. I am planning to talk in detail with the financial aid office during GBR before I send in my matriculation decision form.
Fingers crossed for now

toDoorNot · Answer

For international students, do we need to have applied and secured the loans before we get our F1s?

I do know that Citiassist gives loans without any cosigners to international students, but was not sure when is the right time to apply.

aceman626 · Answer

Hey folks, seems like this thread is only for US citizens and permanent residents right? Should we start another thread for international students?

I am in particular looking for loan options other than the CitiAssist offered by most schools (in my case Cornell-Johnson). That is the only option if you do not have a co-signer, however they only let you borrow tuition and not living expenses. What are you international folks doing for the rest of the money?

I also looked into Access since I have lived in the US before with credit history, however from first glance you seem to need to have at least 4 current credit cards or car loans or home loans. Like, 4 tracks of credit. I don't have that, I only have a US bank account (which doesn't count as credit) and 1 valid credit card.

Any pointers for scholarship/fellowship sources?

Because of a variety of reasons I'd rather not (cannot) take up a loan in my home country.

togafoot · Answer

Same for me, I haven't lived in my home country for 5 years, and my current country will not loan to me considering i may not be returning to that country.

aceman626 · Answer

actually its probably better to start another one for intl students...the process is completely different than US students. It'll just be like 2 different groups of ppl talking separately in one thread, which is confusing.

I'll go ahead and start another one.

I'll go ahead and start another one.

aceman626 · Answer

Hey folks, lets discuss loan options and scholarships for international student going to a US MBA program.

I am in particular looking for loan options other than the CitiAssist offered by most schools (in my case Cornell-Johnson). That is the only option if you do not have a co-signer, however they only let you borrow tuition and not living expenses. What are you international folks doing for the rest of the money?

I also looked into Access since I have lived in the US before with credit history, however from first glance you seem to need to have at least 4 current credit cards or car loans or home loans. Like, 4 tracks of credit. I don't have that, I only have a US bank account (which doesn't count as credit) and 1 valid credit card.

Any pointers for scholarship/fellowship sources?

Because of a variety of reasons I'd rather not (cannot) take up a loan in my home country.

**MOD let's make this a sticky**

Darden2010 · Answer

I think the CitiAssist loan varies by school because for example at Ross you can borrow up to the cost of attendance, which is tuition + living expenses.
I think there are other schools like that also.

toDoorNot · Answer

I think Wachovia and Bank of America also provide student loans, but with a US co-signer.

aceman626 · Answer

Are you sure that its without a co-signer? I am surprised that Ross would offer that, considering its a public school (which are generally not as helpful as privates with international loans). Most of Ross' peer school only offer tuition without cosigner.

dosa_don · Answer

Ross seems to be one of the more student friendly schools when it comes to financial aid/loans. They not only give out a lot of $'s to deserving candidates but also have one of the lowest interest rates through CitiAssist (Prime, which is 6%, might drop later today

). They also dont require a cosigner and you can get upto $64k or so, which includes living expenses.

aceman626 · Answer

Wow, that's pretty good...I thought only HSW would offer that kind of aid to internationals.

Still though, does anyone else have ideas on how to get additional loans, if you can only get tuition loans from your school?

CHON · Answer

nc

where you able to figure out what loan to use? I'm in a similar situation also, and am not sure what to do yet.

Would a cosigner help in getting a loan?

branson · Answer

a US co-signer will ALWAYS help you and widen your choice CONSIDERABLY. I wish I had one. But I dont dare to ask people to cosign 80 grand loans...

aceman626 · Answer

hey branson, you're international? that's cool, i don't know many internationals who play lacross....

go bears.

Financial Aid Discussion for Internationals

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards