International Students

You are considered an international student if all of the following are true:

• You are a non-U.S. citizen
• You are not an undocumented student
• Your parents file a foreign tax return in lieu of a U.S. tax return; unless they are employed on a visa in the United States
• You will be applying for an F-1 student visa in order to study at Swarthmore College (may not be applicable to Canadian citizen students)

Only admitted international students — who indicate an intent to apply for financial aid on their admission application — will need to complete a financial aid application. All admitted international students will receive a CSS Profile fee waiver.

These are the steps to apply for financial aid for international students:

1. Indicate your intent to apply for financial aid on your application for admission if you think you will need financial aid at any point in your four years at Swarthmore College.
2. Complete your admission application.
3. Once admitted, complete your financial aid application and submit all required documents within seven days of receiving your notice of admission.
   1. All admitted international students will receive a CSS Profile fee waiver. Your CSS Profile fee waiver will be available in your applicant portal in the financial aid checklist after you are admitted.

Review common financial aid topics for international students. 

Learn more about:

• The decision to apply for financial aid
• Required materials
• Financial aid documentation
• Deadlines
• CSS Profile Fee Waivers

The decision to apply for financial aid

To reiterate the guidance provided on the Admissions Office site, if you feel you could potentially need financial aid at any point during the course of your enrollment, you should indicate your intent to apply for financial aid on your admission application. If you are admitted to the College without indicating your wish to be considered for financial aid you will be ineligible to be considered for financial aid at any further point in your enrollment at the College. This means that you would not be able to request consideration for financial aid at any other point during your enrollment regardless of a change in your family's circumstances within or beyond your family's control. This includes a change in your citizenship status.  You are encouraged, prior to receiving your admission decision, to consider what not applying for financial aid may mean for you.

Be aware that only Swarthmore College disburses Swarthmore financial aid grants and scholarships. If you choose to apply for external grants or scholarships, please be mindful of organizations that claim to have a formalized connection with the disbursement of funds from Swarthmore College.  If you receive any solicitations from agencies that look to be suspicious please email us at finaid@swarthmore.edu, and do not give out any of your personal or financial information.

Required materials

Only admitted international students (who have indicated on their admission application that they will be applying for financial aid) need to complete a financial aid application.

Emailed financial aid documents or forms will not be accepted.  All financial aid applications and material must be submitted or uploaded electronically.  Documents required to complete the financial aid application must be uploaded to the correct portal - please read carefully below.  Any application information that is emailed to the College will be deleted.

Swarthmore College’s Financial Aid Office requires you to submit electronic copies of the documentation that you will use to complete the CSS Profile via an upload process to a College-owned online portal. Prospective students submit all documents for financial aid applications online in the Financial Aid Checklist within the Swarthmore Admissions portal’s applicant status page. Do not upload documents via the CollegeBoard’s IDOC service, as the College will not receive them.

Current international students use MySwarthmore and access their Financial Aid Checklist via this path:  MySwarthmore - Student Information - Financial Aid Information.  Look for the tab above the checklist to upload documents. 

In summary, you will submit your CSS Profile online via the CollegeBoard’s website, however, all other documents, forms, and the ISAFA will be uploaded to your admissions checklist (for prospective applicants) or to MySwarthmore (current and returning students).

• CSS Profile *
  • Swarthmore's College Board code: 2821
  • All admitted international students will receive a CSS Profile fee waiver
  • The fee waiver code will be available on your financial aid checklist after admission 
  • Fee waiver codes will not be provided to international students before admissions decisions are released
• Income documentation from countries that have an income reporting system.  Income must be reported and uploaded using the correct calendar year.   Please see our webpage on Common Financial Aid Topics for International Students for additional information on the correct income documentation to reference and submit.
• If official income documentation from your parents' countries in which they earn is not available, a letter from each parent’s employer with certified parent income documentation on employer letterhead. The income information must match the income information provided on the CSS Profile and must be authentic. Your parents may also submit this information in addition to their country's official income reporting documentation.
• A completed and signed International Student Application for Financial Aid (ISAFA) [PDF]; this need only be completed by prospective applicants (after admission has been decided), but not by returning students.

Note:  If your required documents do not appear to align with the information that you are able to procure, upload your documentation in lieu of the required documentation along with a brief, signed note of explanation for the Financial Aid Office.  Ultimately, the Financial Aid Office must have official, attested documentation to corroborate  the information that your family reported on the CSS Profile.  Your family must determine for itself the clearest and most accurate way to accomplish that.  Also note that when uploading documents to your portal, please use only standard alphanumeric symbols in the file name.  If you are unable to upload information, you may want to try to change the file name to more standard alphanumeric symbols.

Financial aid documentation 

The Financial Aid Office requires non-U.S. citizens to use attested, third-party income and asset documentation to complete the CSS Profile, which is the annual application for consideration of need-based financial aid from Swarthmore College. Official income documentation varies from country to country.  Use the income documentation that pertains to your home country to complete your CSS Profile.  If your home country has an annual reporting of income to a national agency, similar to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States, you very likely have these documents in your possession already.

Swarthmore College’s Financial Aid Office uses the forms you upload to verify the information that you/your parents reported on your CSS Profile. If your parents own a business, or they do not have official income documentation, they will need to request third-party income documentation from their employer(s) and/or present a signed letter on company letterhead that has been attested and that includes the name, signature, and company server email address of the person verifying your income. The documentation must be legitimate and may not be easily reproduced. The onus of providing genuine, verifiable documentation rests with your family.

Please note that when uploading documents to your portal, please use only standard alphanumeric symbols in the file name.  If you are unable to upload information, you may want to try to change the file name to more standard alphanumeric symbols.

Deadlines

Financial Aid Application Deadlines for Prospective Students

Admitted international students must submit their completed financial aid application within seven (7) days of receiving their admissions decision. 

The Financial Aid Office will provide admitted international students with their aid decision within seven (7) days of receiving their completed financial aid application. 

Reminder: Only admitted international students, who have indicated an intent to apply for financial aid on their admission application, need to submit a financial aid application. The entire financial aid application must be submitted, completely, within seven (7) days of receiving the offer of admission. 

Financial Aid Application Deadlines for Current Students

Please be sure that your application submission is entirely complete.  It is recommended that both before and after you submit your application that you review your submission to be sure that all relevant income information has been provided. Any information that you provide on the CSS Profile should derive from actual and legitimate documentation.  Lastly, you should keep a readily accessible copy of your entire aid application submission for your reference.

CSS Profile Fee Waivers

All admitted first-year international students, who indicated an intent to apply for financial aid on their admission application, will receive a CSS Profile fee waiver.

The CSS Profile fee waiver will be available in your financial aid checklist in your applicant portal after admissions decisions have been released.

Please note: Fee waivers for the CSS Profile are granted only one time by the financial aid committee and only for first time, first year prospective international applicants. Fee waivers for qualified domestic applicants are granted automatically through the CollegeBoard's CSS Profile process.​​​​​​