US universities/ financial aid

[Cathasabat]

Hello all,

I am posting on the off chance that someone can advise. My DS is very keen to apply to US universities, he has already researched and has started the application. We would need substantial financial aid and I don't see how the numbers can add up.

We earn a good salary £95,000 but are close to retirement age with little pension. We will both be working for many years to come.

I am.aware that needs blind universities will be very selective so he may not be offered a place.
He feels his extracurriculars are competitive and he is predicted A*/A.

Can anyone with experience with this help ?

https://www.bigjeducationalconsulting.com/

This site has links to schools which offer financial support

Thank you @Pinkissmart .

Have a look at the Fulbright Commission, they can support with this.

Assuming US unis don’t work out, what is his plan? He will not be entitled to much student loan for a UK uni - are you able to top him up?

He plans to go to university in the UK if he is not successful in the US. He will be entitled to a student loan for his fees and a small loan ( I think it's about £4,000). We will help him with rent etc.

If he studies in London he will qualify for about £6,000 and his fees.

Yes - but parents are expected to top up to full loan amount in the UK? Are you able to do so? He will need a lot more than 4k a year (unless you have a local uni and living at home is viable)

We would expect to top up to the full.loan amount. @Bunnyannesummers . His first choice in the UK is in London so accommodation will be expensive. I expect we will have to add on about £12,000. He will also work during the summer as I expect most students will.

Has anyone applied for financial aid at US universities?

Yes, the Fulbright Foundation has an excellent website and I
hope you will find it helpful, OP.

I wouldn’t be prepared to say how competitive your DS will be for the very few universities and elite four year colleges offering needs blind admissions to overseas students. However typical cutoffs for a ‘full ride’ at the most elite are around $80-100K.

You are likely a bit over, but contributions begin small at the threshold and rise slowly. If your income drops DS can be reassessed.

You can learn more about the four year colleges from the Fulbright Foundation and elsewhere. We don’t have an equivalent here. The strong ones are staffed by superbly qualified academics (eg in STEM they have usually done a good postdoc at minimum). At some point, the staff have made a decision to prioritise teaching rather than research.

These institutions are in no way inferior. The best are essentially as competitive as the Ivy League. UG rather than PG students are the institutional focus and they can be a fabulous experience. I have seen a list of perhaps a dozen that do needs blind admissions for overseas students; unfortunately only Amherst comes to mind at the moment. Again, the FF should hopefully have resources on this.

Best wishes to DS

I have an American relative who runs a business guiding kids into the best uni and getting them scholarships- apparently this is the done thing in middle class circles there! Maybe find one of these who has expertise in UK students, and pay for an hours consultancy for initial advice?

We are Brits in the US with a child applying to UK universities this year for 2025 entry. Paying international fees in the UK is vastly less expensive than paying in-state (i.e reduced by 2/3) tuition and living costs here for 4 yrs.

You only qualify for actual "financial aid" if you earn below a certain income as a family, I don't know what it is off the top of my head, because it varies from college to college, but roughly 50,000 pounds a year for the entire family. Sometimes they include the value of your home and that hurts you because you end up having to remortgage to pay the tuition rather than getting the funds knocked off.

The best bet in this instance, is finding "merit" money, which is money offered by some colleges to students with the highest SAT scores and grades (including AP's which are the equivalent to A levels). So the sticker price might be US $90 k for tuition but if you're an excellent athlete or have an SAT of 1600 and 12 AP's at grade 5 (A star / A) they might let you in for $30K instead.

Its definitely a moveable feast. Lots to research. I advise going by college - those that interest you/ your child and find out everything you can about their scholarships for overseas students.

Some very good advice here , thank you all.