hey all i am Apurva and welcome back to WeDesified this is our 11th video in the study in the usa
series in this video we will talk about how to get your i-20 breakdown of financial documents
for bachelor's master's or a phd student and discuss how to show those funds to get your i-20
so let's get to it but before that please subscribe to our channel and
also hit the bell icon so that you will be notified every time you upload a new video
in our last video we talked about the application timeline step by step in detail until you send
your application packet to your college and submit your application online on their portal
after that you wait until you get a reply from them some colleges wait until they receive all
the applications and send the admits all at once but most colleges do the rolling admits that means
based on your application date you will receive a response within a few weeks if you receive a
rejection don't worry about it we will make a video on the next steps in the case of rejection
but for the context of this video let's talk about the colleges that granted your admission along
with the admission letter colleges usually send you their portal details for incoming students
these portals generally have a master checklist of what you need to do after your admission like
any missing transcripts you may need to upload or update your local mailing address and upload your
financial documentation to get your i-20 financial documentation is the key to get your i-20
you need to prove to your college that you are financially capable to afford your tuition fee
and living expenses the visa officer verifies your sources of funds at the visa interview
still it is also the responsibility of the universities to make sure you have enough
funds to support your education colleges provide an estimate of expenses for a year including
tuition fees insurance books and supplies and living expenses also known as the i-20 amount
this estimate is mostly inflated to cover the maximum expenditure and you would most likely
not spend that much money but you still need to show proofs that you can afford that expenditure
if you have an independent coming with you like a spouse or a kid then this amount will
increase accordingly people say you need to show one and a half times or two times of the
i-20 amount for the visa but to get the i-20 you could show just a little over the given estimate
the estimate changes with your department and degree program so make sure you get the right
amount you could get this amount from their admissions website or you can even email
their international office as shown here this sample estimate includes tuition fees
based on the average number of credits per year books and supplies health insurance and living
expenses i20 mentions only 9 months expenses so you don't have to worry about this 12 months cost
this is a sample breakdown for graduate programs books and supplies and living expenses are quoted
at higher prices you would usually end up spending only about half of it if you are
staying off campus and sharing with other students if you get any scholarship you could reduce that
amount from the estimate and show the proof of funds for the remaining amount this is advantages
for the students who got a full fee waiver or for phd students if you got a full fee waiver
you only need to show funds for your living expenses or if you are a phd student with a
full free waiver and a stipend like me you don't need to show any financial documentation since
the stipend covers your living expenses and the university provides you health insurance as well
so i wasn't required to submit any financial documentation and they sent me the i-20 along
with the admission letter itself perks of being a phd student what can you show as proof of funds
the fund should be something that is easily available for you whenever you need them
one of the common types of funds is the money in your savings account if you have the required
amount of money in your bank account you can get a balance certificate and submit it to the college
but the i20 amount is usually high like around 35 to 40 000 dollars which are roughly 25 to
30 lakhs in indian rupees and many of us don't have that much amount in one savings account
in that case what most people do is they gather money from friends and family members
and deposit the amount in their account for a few days and get the balance certificate from the
bank and disburse the money remember the balance certificate is different from your bank statement
it only says on so and so date the account holder has this much amount of money in their account
so you don't have to worry about how you are depositing the money or how long you are keeping
it in the account you are good as long as you are getting the certificate for the required amount
you don't have to show all the amount in one bank account too you can submit
multiple balance certificate as long as they belong to your sponsor or one of your sponsors
you can also have multiple sponsors but apart from your personal funds you need to submit an
affidavit of support for each sponsor even if they are your parents some colleges ask for a
notarized affidavit that looks like this but some just ask you to fill a form and get it signed
so check what your college requires you can also show a loan sanction letter as a proof
of funds if you can get one in time but most banks need i-20 to approve your education loans
so it may not be possible to get an education loan sanction before you get your i-20 especially if
you go to a nationalized bank like sbi or pnb but some private banks or institutions like the hdfc
credella or advance might be able to help you with this they usually have a list of credible
universities and can provide a sanctioned letter even before the i-20 with some minimal charge
and you can go to other banks as well to get your actual loan after you get your i-20 if you feel
that interest rates or conditions are high so you can explore this option as well you could also
show money in your fts but those should be readily available for you to withdraw whenever you need
you can submit this financial documentation on the portal or to get your i20 faster you can even send
them along with your application packet itself if you know the estimated amount while applying so
that's all we have for today in the next video we will talk about form i20 the information it
contains and some of the common mistakes you should avoid please let us know if you have
any questions in the comments box below we will reply and make videos answering all your questions
please like share and subscribe to our channel until next time keep learning bye