<p>Hi!</p>
<p>How's the aid situation this year likely to be? I heard that last year was extremely bad.</p>
<p>I know that asking for aid as an international kills your chances even at the height of economic boom in the US, but my question is relative.</p>
<p>Last year certainly was bad. I remember colleges turning down international applications solely on basis of insufficient finances. I would expect it to be somewhat better this year though.</p>
<p>Thank god! (And you too 
)</p>
<p>
I’m curious to know where you learned of that. Only if you don’t mind, that is.</p>
<p>I’m not hearing very good news from some friends. :(</p>
<p>
That has happened every year in the recent past, even before the economic downturn. The economy certainly did not make things easier though :(</p>
<p>That being said, a few colleges have recently accepted more international students. Bryn Mawr has gone from ~20 to ~80 incoming international students in the last 4 years, many of them are on financial aid.</p>
<p>Internationals have always faced problems in getting sufficient aid from colleges regardless of the economic situation.</p>
<p>but it’s reasonable, the domestic students have their parents paying taxes to the US govn’t entire life, and so will they. International students? only great potential contributions to the community could persuade colleges to risk the money</p>
<p>Uh, private institutes aren’t govt. funded.</p>
<p>"I remember colleges turning down international applications solely on basis of insufficient finances. "</p>
<p>I’ve seen this happen this year too. :(</p>
<p>And Williams is now no longer need-blind. I wonder what that says.</p>
<p>
What do you mean by “seen”?</p>
<p>Private Colleges may not be govt. funded but I’m guessing most do not pay taxes due to non-profit or not-for-profit status. Much of the local infrastructure is paid by local taxpayers.</p>
<p>tagbanda, as in it has happened to friends of mine, and other international CCers.</p>
<p>Well then, why don’t you take it up also with state publics that give a lot of aid to OOSers? In any case, this wasn’t a debate about internationals getting aid.</p>
<p>well i got accepted into mount hoyloke which says that will meet ur full fin need. they didn’t meet mine so i guess its due to the financial crisis.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Mount Holyoke calculates your need according to THEIR calculations, not what you say you can afford. So they’re still going to report that they met your need 100% but you and I both know that they really didn’t. This is a problem that both internationals and citizens alike face.</p>
<p>Yes. They’ve always said that the amount they award is based on what they perceive your need to be. If such a system is strongly put in place, I’d love to see them stop asking for an estimate from us and require us to explain our situation better. The PROFILE was really detailed, and I’m sure that whichever colleges received the PROFILE from me knows my family’s situation far better than those that received the ISFAA, who in turn know better than those that required me to fill out their own forms.</p>
<p>EDIT: luluzg, was the award very different from what you expected? (i.e. is it affordable if you take a small loan? If you don’t want to share the exact amounts, could you share the %age difference?)</p>
<p>@tagbanda</p>
<p>I received 13k less than I hoped for, i.e. 13k less than I put I can afford. It was too much to take out 52k of loans for undergraduate school. MoHo costs 55k a year and my parents said they could afford 20ish k for tution and board (excluding transporation, allowance and books). I got 23 which is still great but not sufficient since my parents don’t earn >80k. Furthermore, we negotiated and they increased their aid for 2k which was pretty dissapoitng taking into consideration that I explained them my fin situation in details and was clearly shown we cannot afford that money.
Well c’est la vie. :(</p>
<p>I just hope other colleges meet my fin need, i.e. it’s my biggest fear to get accepted but with the insufficient FA.</p>
<p>I hope you get a better award from another school. :)</p>
<p>Me too. But I have to get in first :)</p>
<p>If you can get into MoHo, you have a good shot at the other colleges, don’t you? (I was rejected both EDs and think I will be for all RDs also).</p>