PT, a friend of mine in college from South Africa had a similar situation. It was surprising how bent out of shape people got over it.
If you are born in the United States and are the fourth generation of European immigrants who moved here in the 1800s, you have a pretty convincing case that you are American.
If you are born in South Africa and are the fourth generation of European immigrants who moved there in the 1800s, you should have an equally convincing case that you are South African. But when this guy claimed he was South African, nobody bought it. Especially nobody in the financial aid office.
Plus we were at the University of Michigan, which is a couple notches up from Purdue.
(Just razzin' ya, Indiana Schram and the Temple of Doomed Rovers. Keeping the Big 10 rivalries going.)