How to increase Financial Aid

Question

Hi!

I am new to this forum and am applying Fall 10. Assuming I have a decent shot with my application (i.e. test scores, recs, GPA, experience), how does financial aid factor in as an international student?

I am an interntional citizen and have a decent amount of savings from the last few years of working in finance. I have heard that you can improve financial aid by having fewer assets at the time of application.

1. Do schools give less financial aid for international students? 
2. Are admissions need-blind?

Please feel free to respond to me via private IM if better. Thanks so much for any help.

asimov · Answer

If you are not a US citizen or permanent resident, you will not qualify for financial aid from the US government. I'm not sure if the Canadian government will give out financial aid for student attending school abroad.

As far as the application goes, the admission is need blind, because the school usually does not provide aid. Most international students finance their schooling through a mixture of saving and loans. Your school will help you secure a loan if you are an international student.

jdk61710 · Answer

amuricuh

ariel · Answer

dchen, as a Canadian studying in the US I hope to be able to provide some perspective as well. As asimov mentioned, admissions are generally need-blind and schools tend to treat intls and Americans the same way for most merit scholarships. Governemnt funds however, are a different story.

You won't have to worry about financial aid right away, so focus on your apps right now. As long as you have a general idea of how the process works, you'll be fine.

Additionally, if you're looking for government aid from Canada, that would strictly depend on the province you reside in. For instance, Ontario will only give you UP TO $210 per week (for full cost of attendance) if you study outside of Canada, which barely covers living expenses, but they don't care. There's nothing you can do to get more money from them, transferring cash to your parents becomes irrelevant.

Your best bet is to go through a private lender (Scotia is the most lenient, BMO will work with you depending on your budget. They will fund up to cost of attendance as estimated by your school, I doubt your assets matter much at that point either. Since you'll be studying outside of Canada, you'll need a Canadian co-signer for all Canadian banks, I've checked this explicitly. Your co-signer's monthly income - expenses will determine to a large extent how much you're going to get. BMO's interest rate is fairly competitive too, something like 50bps spread over prime lending).

In the US, you could look into getting money from Sallie Mae (extremely slow and bureaucratic and no interest free period but decent terms depending on co-signer), Chase or Citi. These are the ones most schools work with when it comes to intl students. In all cases though you will need a credit worthy co-signer who is a US citizen (that's assuming you don't have a US SSN).

Hope this helps a bit.

dchen · Answer

Thank you so much! I agree that I should look more into this after my exams/applications though! Thanks again.

jb88 · Answer

Generally, it's a good idea to hide your income and your assets regardless of whether you are going to business school or not. :lol:

My goal for 2010 is to have the lowest possible adjusted gross income. I'm doing this by maximizing my pre-tax 401k and maximizing my capital losses (limited to $3k typically) from beaten down stocks I've got. As for the pile of cash under my bed...not sure if I'm gonna report that to FAFSA or not.

How to increase Financial Aid

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