US scholarship - any advice is helpful, I'm totally clueless

[Cuppachaplz]

Eldest DS has been offered a scholarship to Aquinas College in Michigan.
It is an athletic scholarship primarily, but is based on his academic performance too.
It's about a 60% scholarship, and covers his living expenses too, which makes it cheaper than uni in the U.K., but obviously needs to be funded at the time, which probably puts it out of our reach anyway, but I'm exploring options.
It's a fantastic opportunity for him if I can make it happen, and I'm proud that he was even offered this.
On the off chance that I can make it fly for him, I'm looking for insights into us college life, pros and cons of the system there. Also practical advice re banking etc.
TIA

It looks like the cost to attend is $46k which leaves you $18k a year to find for 4 years.

IIRC international students don't qualify for federal loans and he may not be able to work so you're going to have to find that in cash. They will send you a bill for $9k at the start of each semester and if you can't pay it he will not be able to register for classes.

He will need health insurance too - that's the typically $3-4k a year on top. The scholarship might pay some of it.

Honestly I think he'd be better off staying in the UK unless he really wants the chance play his sport there.

One thing to watch with the terms of the scholarship is whether it can be cancelled (for example due to injury) if your child can't play the sport. There have been some horror stories on the Dave Ramsey show where this happened and the people concerned ran up huge debts to complete their degrees as they didn't want to change universities.

Speak to the Fulbright Commission, they specialise in supporting UK students to attend US universities.

Would recommend the Fulbright Commission too.

By way of practicalities, my DD opened up her bank account during freshers' week as a representative of Bank of America visited then. She didn't study at Aquinas College, but I imagine this is fairly typical of all US universities.

The university will have an International Students (or similar name) office, who will also be able to help.

As well as Health Insurance (DD got hers through her university), there will probably be detailed health forms to fill in before he goes (much lengthier than the UK equivalent!). You may have to pay for him to have any missing vaccinations, and also pay for his GP to fill out a form about his general health and the vaccinations he has had. My DD wasn't involved in sports, but I do remember the questionnaire included lots of extra questions for those interested in representing the university.

As far as paid work is concerned, my DD couldn't work anywhere (due to the regulations) during her first semester, but after that could get jobs on campus to supplement her income. She worked in the dining halls, and then doing admin in one of the university offices. I got the impression that there were lots of opportunities for paid employment.

He will also need to get a visa. The university will send you the relevant forms once he has accepted the offer, and yo then have to make an appointment at the US Embassy in London to get the visa approved. Again, extra expense.

Those are just my random thoughts, but please feel free to PM me if there is anything I might be able to help you with.

Thanks for the replies :D

His scholarship includes his health insurance, although I'm waiting to hear back re preexisting conditions.

I have asked about criteria under which he could lose the scholarship; apparently the only one is if he is kicked out of the university (academic, or behaviour bring the criteria). It continues if he is inured and unable to play. It may be increased if he is excellent (although I don't count on this).

It also includes his room and full board, nutritional supplements for sport, all his kit (the only exclusion being they only cover his first pair of boots).

Travel is not included, although if he needs to isolate, they will pay his hotel so he can fly out early. They will also cover accommodation for me if I want to fly out to get him settled (something I doubt he will want).

They will pay for and organise his visa.

He can start in the spring if we cannot get all this organised in time as they have Southern Hemisphere players also joining at the end of their academic year.

I've asked for all of the above and the exact t and cs in writing. I'm struggling to see how all of this can be organised in 6 weeks, which maybe is a good things.

Thanks for the advice re the fullbright commission. I'll contact them tomorrow.

Pre-existing conditions will be covered but make sure you check what his out of pocket costs can be per year. The university health insurance policies I’ve seen are excellent but I haven’t seen them all…

Have you looked at the health history forms? They will show exactly what vaccinations he needs. Your GP will have to complete these and it’s useful to get a printout of his vaccination history from the GP - he’ll need it a fair bit. He may well need catch-up shots so he should start that ASAP.

If he’s had chickenpox he’ll need a letter from his GP saying so to prove history of varicella. Otherwise he may need a blood test or it may just be easiest for him to get the Varicella vaccine.

If the college requires the Covid vaccine then he should be able to get the Johnson and Johnson as soon as he arrives in the country, and he’ll have to quarantine for a while.

I guess one last thing I’d add is that the drinking culture is very different in the US, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he could potentially lose his scholarship for illegal drinking - something to check.

To add to ZZ's last post, many college sports people have to maintain a certain Grade Point Average, their leagues demand it.

On academics DS, who is in the US as a Graduate student, initially found the US way of studying with exams every few weeks unrelenting. There was no let up. Marking was way higher. I congratulated DS for getting 98% on one test, and he explained that it was very possible for the rest of the class to get 100% leaving him with a low grade that might impact on his GPA. If he is required to keep up to certain academic standards, it is worth your DS being diligent, at least until he understands what is required.

DS got a Monzo account which he used until he was able to set up a US bank account, but as a graduate student he had quite a lot of initial expenses around renting a flat and buying furniture. Your DS might not need it.

I remember the visa application being a nightmare, though I have forgotten much of the detail. The sponsors letter is of limited duration, and so expired before DS had completed the process and had to be reissued. (The same thing happened when DD needed a visa for CampAmerica.) The US can be picky about passport photos and eventually we used one of their recommended photographers. In normal years there can be a delay in getting a visa interview so it was wise to apply early. You also needed to ensure that you noted down the visa application number if you were not able to complete it in one go and needed to access it later.

The visa guidance DS got from his University was not great, but I googled and found another University which had useful advice online. The CampAmerica guidance, which may also be online, about visa applications and interviews (it was the same category visa) was very detailed and we reread it for DS.

DS did the health stuff himself but I remember a bit of a paperchase, and needing either vaccinations or having to contact the GP.

Thanks again.

He has already requested a printout of his vaccinations. He's had a lot of extras due to sports tours in various places, and the only ones not on this are his pre school jabs (which are in his red book).
He's had his first covid vaccine, and is trying to bring the second one forward (or he could have the second Pfizer out there). We should be able to bring it forward as he should have been in a priority group, but was under 18 at the time.

He's not a big drinker, and is well aware of the rules. He actually commented that it will be a relief not to have to drink to fit in...

The coach who approached him is really keen to get him out there by august, but I'm not hopeful that this is possible, however apparently he can go in January if it's not.

I had planned to load him up a pre paid travellers card (and some cash, obvs) for when he arrives to kit out his room and last until he can open up a bank account.

I've requested a written copy of all t and cs rekeying to his scholarship conditions, and if the medical plan.