hi.. just posting here cuzz its more visited and need kinda early response.
(note to Admins .. can you move it to academics later..once i get some sorta response?)
…
I have a friend who is US Citizen but parents are not… and have not lived in US for past 14 years. he just started uni this fall.. and came in two weeks before that.
on scholarship forms US tax ID number and tax returns are required.. and since the parents have not filed taxes is US for 14 odd years.. they dont have that info…
would his home country’s tax returns suffice? how does he go about doing it .. etc.
also.. his uni does not have a student financial advice centre .. so he cant ask such questions there (Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh).. any ideas where he can go to talk to someone about applying for the financial help (scholarships/ grants/ loans)..
can he go to another uni’s financial advice centre or a local high school?. would they see him?
any info is much welcome. can post here or private msg me,
He needs to go to the local social security office I believe and he will be able to get both a Social security number and a tax ID if he needs it. I think it takes about a week to two. They will also be able to advice him about some of this stuff I believe.
Generally speaking Tax IDs are only used by companys, for persons, the SSN is enough, unless you dont have one (for aliens) in which case they may for some reason prefer to get a Tax ID instead of a SSN number
If the issue is his parents returns (perhaps to show they are under a certain limit) he needs to go talk to the International Students office. they will have some of the information he needs. I am fairly sure Carnegie has a financial aid office and they should be able to help him out as well. With most of the big university's theres something like that.