Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:true.... either she doesnt know how to go about it....or the whole statement is a lie.

+1

She wants you to sponsor because she doesn't really have the money and once you sign, you are responsible for paying her tuition if she can't. If you sponsor her, YOU have to supply the school with account information showing that YOU have the money in the bank and accessible ($20k each year)

It's not necessarily that she doesn't have the money - but she has to show a lot more money as a self-sponsor than you would as an outside sponsor. Also - she likely intends to get some sort of job to support herself (off the books, of course - she can only work 20 hours on-campus with her student visa, which isn't enough to live on because those are generally minimum wage jobs). But you would have to sign an affidavit and provide supporting financial information. Usually you have to show liquid assets, in a checking account (not in savings). The school's website should have the form affidavit posted, so you can see what you'd have to sign, and what the supporting financial info you'd have to send in would be. While she may say, "you just have to sign this, you aren't actually responsible for paying anything," and while I'm sure - since you are close with her - that is her intent, the reality is that if her plans to get off-the-books jobs to support herself don't work out, and she is not able to meet her tuition bills, you will be responsible. It's like being a guarantor for someone else's apartment or loan. You have to decide whether you are willing to make that kind of commitment - and then not be bitter if you actually end up having to cover for her.

Anonymous wrote:Well if she has money saved up to study , she's able to sponsor herself.......

To be a self-sponsor you have to show twice the financial resources than a non-self sponsor has to show. Also - you have to show not only money for tuition, but also money for living expenses. She may not have the living expenses saved up (e.g. if she is expecting to get some "off the books" jobs to support her living expenses, which I think most of those on student visas do.)

Anonymous wrote:The OP may want to suggest to her that she consider actual exchange programs through her university, where you pay your home country tuition and then just need to cover living and travel expenses (and the host university in the U.S sends the same number of students to the other university).

This would be cheaper than, say, deciding you want to study abroad at Georgetown for the semester or year and paying full price for tuition, etc.

This is the only way I could study abroad years ago. I sure couldn't afford $30k for a semester at my ideal University of X in Europe, but I could afford my state school tuition when I was one of 2-3 exchange students between my university and Y University.

This type of program is fairly unique to the US. I don't know of any universities abroad that do it in this direction.

The OP may want to suggest to her that she consider actual exchange programs through her university, where you pay your home country tuition and then just need to cover living and travel expenses (and the host university in the U.S sends the same number of students to the other university).

This would be cheaper than, say, deciding you want to study abroad at Georgetown for the semester or year and paying full price for tuition, etc.

This is the only way I could study abroad years ago. I sure couldn't afford $30k for a semester at my ideal University of X in Europe, but I could afford my state school tuition when I was one of 2-3 exchange students between my university and Y University.

If she doesn't have the money or her family doesn't, she'll end up broke or working illegally while here. I'm not strict about one's need to work "on the books," but it would open her up to all sorts of abuses or bad living situations.

Anonymous wrote:http://www.international.umd.edu/sparkplug/common/images/ies/CertificateOfFinances-Undergraduate.pdf

EVERY college and university shows you exactly what you need to do on their website.

Wow. There's no way I would do this. Probably not even for my siblings.

http://www.international.umd.edu/sparkplug/common/images/ies/CertificateOfFinances-Undergraduate.pdf

EVERY college and university shows you exactly what you need to do on their website.