The International Student Blog

The tax season is right upon us, and for international students navigating the complex US tax system is not an easy task. The first thing to note is that ALL international students who were in the USA during the last year will need to submit and file their taxes – even if you received no income!

So now that we are clear that all students will need to file their taxes and submit at least one form, the next step is to work out what forms need to be completed:

Form 8843 – Must be filed by ALL international students present in United States to exclude the days of presence from the Substantial Presence Test.

Form 1040NR-EZ – Must be filed by all international students who have received any type of U.S income other than interest received from U.S. banks and credit unions.

Social Security and Medicare Taxes - International students nonresident for tax purposes are NOT subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. If your employer has withheld Social Security and Medicare tax in error, you can apply to get a refund for the taxes withheld in error by filing Form 843 and Form 8316

To help you completing these forms and to work out what forms you need to complete, you can use our online system to enter in your personal details and information. The system will then put all this information into the correct forms for you to print off and send to the IRS. Unfortunately international students are not able to submit and file their taxes online – so you will need to mail them in.

There is a wealth of information about taxes for international students that is available on our website, plus you can also visit the official IRS website which has more detailed information. You can also call the IRS and talk to a representative and ask them questions about your taxes, they can be found at 1-800-829-1040.

If you are an international student who needs more complex tax assistance, then we highly suggest you opt for a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) – two resources who past students have used and recommended to us are:

1. LBF Tax
2. The Tax Guy

Good luck with filing your tax returns!

As highlighted in our post back in 2008, the Swedish government was looking to change a long standing tradition where international students are not charged to study in Sweden. Throughout much of Europe and the world, international students typically have to pay full tuition to attend a University – and Sweden was one of the few remaining countries where this was not the case.

However, this is all about to change and with 2010 right around the corner the changes are looming – but there has been backlash from some of the countries top academics who are calling on the government to delay the introduction of the new fee structure for international students. The pro-rectors of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Lunds University and Gothenburg University have come out saying:

“Look to Denmark which lost 90% of its international students when introducing fees without a proper preparation by the universities,” the pro-rectors declared. “Many courses in English at masters level will have to be cut because that is where the foreign students are, and Swedish students will prefer other courses.”

So far there has been no response from the Swedish government which is aiming to reduce its budget allocated to higher education in 2011 by up to SEK 500 million (EUR48 million or US$72 million) – and the fees from international students were expected to compensate for this cut.

For more information about the changes in Sweden for international students please check out the following article which provides more in depth news and views:

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20091127125048259

and post your comments about the changes below…….

We all know that Twitter is growing in popularity and fast becoming one of the hottest things in the social media world – and a place to get information, help and advice quickly! For international students, it represents an goldmine to gather information advice and help from not only schools who are twittering, but also from organizations.

One very big use of twitter that has been uncovered by our good friends at the Financial Aid Podcast is utilizing the powerful twitter search function to find scholarships. The following is their excellent posting about how to use twitter in this manner:

Start at Twitter Search. Look for the basic term first to see what’s available:

Our familiar friends, the words deadline and application, show even more insight:

Now, to take action, we should start to look for URLs:

And don’t forget to search for document types, too, like PDFs:

Kick it up a notch and subscribe to any or all of these Twitter searches in Google Reader (or any RSS reader you have)

So as you can see, just like using Google Search, you can also use the Twitter Search feature to find things you need. The main example here is to look for scholarships, but for internatonal students you could try and search for things like:

• “International Scholarships”
• “Study USA”
• “Study UK”
• “Study Abroad”
• and so on……..

The possibilities are endless to find current and up-to-date information – so get searching!

Once again – don’t forget to check out the Financial Aid Podcast and their scholarship site Scholarship Points. You can also follow them on twitter @winscholarships and @cspenn.

Of course, you can also follow up on twitter @intstudent

A topic that was brought up in our international student forums a while ago titled “Sweden – Seriously Free”, was the subject of obtaining an international education in Sweden and whether this was in fact free. After a lot of talking back and forth, it was discovered that for non-EU international students there are in fact no fees to study as an international student at Universities in Sweden.

However, that is all about to change if the Swedish government has their way and a bill is going to be put before the Swedish parliament this fall to discuss and implement fees for international students. But, do not worry if you are planning to studying this year – the bill (if it comes into law) will not come into effect until 2010.

For more information about this please see:
http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/10403/a/107816

If you cannot read Swedish, please try the online website translator at:
http://www.systran.co.uk/

One question that is always asked when I open the International Student Mailbag each day is “How can I apply for an international student loan?” or “How do I go about getting funding for my time abroad?”. So, I thought I would dedicate a blog post to give a brief overview of who is eligible for an international student loan and how you can apply for one.

The International Student Loan is available to any international student who wants to study at one of the approved schools in the USA or Canada. The approved schools list is also available online so you can check to see if your school is part of the program.

To apply for the loan program, you will need to have a cosigner to complete the application. Your cosigner must either be a US Citizen or permanent resident for at least the last 2 years. Once you have that you can apply for the program and the best way to do is either online (where you can walk through the application step by step) or you can phone our customer support team who will go through the application over the phone.

If you have all the information with you when you apply, and your cosigner has a good credit history you can receive your funds in as little as 5 business days – and even get a preliminary approval in 15 minutes.

Of course, there are many students who do not have a cosigner, and unfortunately without a cosigner the loan program is not available to you. However, there are many other resources and means to obtain funding – for example there are many international scholarships around that providing funding for students all over the world, plus you should get out the international financial aid blog which has updated listing of financial aid information.

If you have any other resources or comments about funding, post them below.

With the new year only weeks away, a new semester will start for many students – some will be returning back to school and for others it will be a start at their new school. To help you with this, we have provided a checklist of things you need make sure are in place for the new semester:

1. Check/ Book Flights
Check and reconfirm your flights for your trip over. If you have not booked a flight yet it is not too late and it could actually save you money as Airlines tend to put sales on after Christmas.

2. Arrange Accommodation
When you first arrive, make sure you have accommodation during the first few nights.

3. Finances/ Student Loans
Make sure all your finances are in order – if you still are short of funds, you can still apply for an international student loan

4. Student Health Insurance
While some schools will automatically require you to enroll in their insurance plan, other schools will leave this up to you – and most schools will not allow you to register without proof of insurance. Save yourself time and hassle by applying now, so that you have confirmation ready when you arrive to register for classes.

5. Stay in touch
Being in a foreign country can be daunting, so make sure you have a way to either call home or for home to call you with an international calling card or sim card.

6. Ask Questsions
You will most likely have lots of questions, hopefully your international student advisor will have answered them all and they are the best person to talk to. However if you want another perspective try international student forums for information and to talk to other students.

…..and the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy yourself!

Although the USA is a huge draw for many students that want to study internationally, the UK is easily the number 2 destination for international students. Traditionally funding to study in the USA can be very hard to find, however with the International Student Loan Program and the International Financial Aid Center that we have now developed, we are making access to funding for students much easier.

The UK, however, does not have the same sort of funding channels for international students. There is no specific loan program yet for students looking to study in the UK – however scholarships are a great source, but finding them can be hard.

The new UK International Financial Aid Cetner for students studying in the UK has been launched that offers a international students a source to get help and advice for funding their education in the UK. The main highlight of this new section is the Universities that Award Financial Aid – this database provides you with access to schools in the UK that provide financial assistance, such as scholarships, to international students that are enrolled or plan to enroll.

Please check out the new International Financial Aid Center for Studying in the UK.