@calmom Glad you brought this up. It was the first thing that occurred to me when I read the article, and thought of the response that poor student got here. Leaping on someone to criticize or dismiss is far too common here, especially when we must consider (those of us that are parents) how horribly difficult and emotionally tough this process can be. Hoping that this student has been helped by another institution!
“I attended a private college in my home state and during the last week of the first semester they converted a grant to a loan.”
What prompted that change?! Can they do this after you sign the enrollment and all fa forms? OMG
This is a very touching situation. I’m grateful for the efforts of Joan Liu and others.
@Leducate2018, Everyone had to visit the bursar at the end of the semester. Mine wasn’t the only package that was changed. It was a private college and this was a lot of years ago, but it was their money so they could do what they wanted. Do colleges still do that? I’d never heard of it 'til now.
When Temple in PA offered their automatic stats-based scholarships and too many kids took them up on it, they switched to a competitive model but honored their agreement to the students they already had accepted (and honored it for all 4 years), even though it was a budget buster. O
Tyler should have done the same. The UT system should step up. And if they can’t afford scholarships they shouldn’t offer them. Especially as they simultaneously demand deposits ahead of May 1.
I really feel for these kids.
@MYOS1634 - here it is: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/05/11/the-university-of-texas-system-a-ut-campus-and-a-1-7-million-broken-promise-to-admitted-students/?noredirect=on
This is unspeakable, especially because they targeted the Nepalese students - and in Nepal, having to pay $10,000 could as well be $100,000 - to give you an idea, a primary school teacher earns between $50 and $100 a month. A banker makes about $300 a month. The Prime Minister makes $3,000 a month.
I thought of Temple, which honored its promise.
I feel terrible also that this information flew by me. I should have known (and I do read the WaPo and other publications!! :() Thanks for telling me and providing the link @OHMomof2!
Thank you very much for trying to help. Apparently, I didn’t get any email notifications about this thread and was thinking nobody commented. I Just received a personal message about this thread which showed up in my email.
I have been accepted to SUNY Korea with full scholarship. I will be attending the Korea campus this fall. I actually wanted to study in the USA but now will be going Korea. Life is very uncertain. There are still many of us who are looking for colleges that might be affordable to us. If you know of any such colleges do let me know. Only about 17 of the 61 students have found a home university as of today.
Though I am not a US permanent resident, I had confirmed with the university that this scholarship was available to International students. I think this is why I received the scholarship in January on the first hand but got it revoked two months later in April even though I had confirmed the scholarship on January.
@Ro0shan – Thank you so much for returning to this forum to tell us your outcome. I am happy that SUNY stepped up and offered you the scholarship. I know it is disappointing not to be able to come to US - but it is a US-style university education, with programs identical to the US campus – and the academic program does seem to include one full year of study at the US campus in Long Island, New York. So you will be able to study in the US… just not for four years. However, your SUNY degree will also qualify you for graduate admission at any US university.
Also, keep in mind that you are going to be having the opportunity to study at a university that is honorable enough to offer you help and support with no previous obligation. So I think (and hope) that long term you may find this to be a better outcome that will lead to more opportunities for you.
Here’s another article detailing the process that has led to the current status of the students from Nepal. Unfortunately many still do not have places, and some have been offered financial aid packages that fall short of actual need:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/These-Nepali-Students-Saw/243349
@calmom I think graduating from SUNY Korea is even better in many aspects than graduating from a US University. I get to experience both American culture at NY and Korean Culture at Incheon. I an going to learn Korean. Woah! I will be fluent in 4 languages soon. Also, sometimes taking a path other than what you had expected might yield many positive outcomes. I am forever thankful to SUNY Korea and every one associated for this offer.
I am so glad you feel this way! I share your philosophy – and I can think of many reasons why this experience may turn out to create even more opportunities for you. I hope you will come back to post next year to let us know how things go for you.
Do come back to tell us how things are going. And I hope other students are being helped in other ways, too.
UT Tyler should pay a price for this, because they broke a contract. Also, other UT’s should have pitched in.
I’m so pleased that you returned to tell us your good news. That whole situation with UT was rotten and unethical.
Though I have been placed, there were 61 of us who faced this tragedy. As of now less than 20 students have been placed. There are still 40 or more students who don’t know where they are going this fall for their studies.
They claim they can’t. I don’t buy it.
Disgraceful.
@Ro0shan I am very happy to hear about your new opportunity with SUNY Korea! Korea and NY both sounds amazing and I wish you the best!
@Ro0shan, thank you so much for the update. You have such a wonderful attitude, I’m sure you will be very successful whatever you choose to do. I feel terrible for all those other students still with no affordable options. I really hope something comes through for all of them.
And I don’t buy that claim either, @OHMomof2. UT has a $24B endowment. I’m guessing $1.7M is the kind of money you could easily find in the chancellor’s slush fund (or UT-Tyler’s president’s).
I just read an Chronicle of Higher Ed article about this. I don’t want to post the link because I think our OP is named in it. But it is a very good explanation of what’s going on now with the kids who had the rug pulled out from under them by UT-T.
@OHMomof2 it’s true that I was the one who was named in it.