<p>I am an international student applying to Duke. Would my chance for admission decrease greatly if I apply for financial aid? Thank you.</p>
<p>No, however FA for international undergraduates is uncommon. </p>
<p>@TopTier, I actually disagree. I’ve heard the acceptance rate for international students seeking FA is much lower (~3-5%), but Duke will meet full need for international students they do accept. The pool is just much more competitive (which is why it is uncommon). Duke is need-aware for international students. However, if you don’t apply for aid as an entering first-year, you won’t be able to apply in later years.</p>
<p>“Meet the full need” does NOT mean relatively abundant no-repay grants/scholarships, as it does for Americans, however; there are a few of these for internationals, but not many. And that was my point. </p>
<p>@TopTier- do you mean that there is a different process for awarding loans for international students than domestic students? I thought all students had the same loan cap (and campus work-study), though the loans and work-study may be institutional rather than federal. For international students whom Duke admits who are on aid, I thought their package was similar.</p>
<p>This doesn’t suggest that there are more loans or less grant aid in an international student’s package than domestic, though the number of international students is limited (about 20-25 each year), and Duke is, again, need-aware for international students.</p>
<p><a href=“http://financialaid.duke.edu/awarding-and-policy”>http://financialaid.duke.edu/awarding-and-policy</a></p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>Duke’s need-blind policy does not apply to international applicants, so yes, your chances would decrease greatly if you checked the FA box as an international student. </p>
<p>@purpleacorn, US federally-backed funds do not apply to international loans nor for campus work study. </p>
<p>To be fair, Duke does have an entire scholarship endowment worth several million dollars dedicated exclusively to international students who require financial aid. I don’t know of many other schools that can boast this level of generosity. </p>
<p>@TopTier- do you have information then on how international students who are admitted to Duke on financial aid who are not Karsh scholars are packaged aid? Does the loan cap/process of establishing parent and student contributions not apply to international students?</p>
<p>@purpleacorn (re #9): As you know, in general any Duke UNDERGRADUATE FA package may include need-based grants (outright – no repayment required – gifts, resourced from endowment and annual giving), work-study, loans, and (more rarely) merit-based scholarships (usually resourced from endowments). For international undergraduates, the proportion of these elements decidedly differs, with loans becoming appreciably more dominant. The usual “loan cap/process” (as you’ve called it) cannot be easily employed, because in many foreign nations verified financial information of all sorts is very difficult to obtain.</p>
<p>@stanfordduke9 (re #8): You’re right, and the Karsh scholar approach for international undergraduates will certainly increase during the next decades. However, it may be worthwhile to understand how (very basically) Duke scholarship endowments actually operate (and I will significantly simplify, to keep this concise and helpful). Presume one endows a $1M scholarship at Duke (undergraduate or postgraduate, domestic or international). CRITICALLY, in aggregate the University has done EXTREMELY well in its investment of endowed funds, and (for our hypothetical example) let’s presume in year one the $1M appreciates at 10 percent (to $1.1M). Generally, the Duke permits 5 percent of the endowment’s value to be used, pursuant to the endowment “contract.” Therefore, in year two $55K would be allocated for the intended scholarship. Now – and this is the VITAL part – $55K represents only about 88 percent of the costs (tuition, fees, housing, food, etc. . . . but not transportation or other living expenses) for ONE Duke student (this varies somewhat, since tuition differs among the University’s schools). Accordingly, a $1M gift – which is WONDERFUL and which absolutely will make a mammoth difference in the lives of many generations of young Dukies’ – doesn’t even fully pay the “direct” costs of one student in it’s early years. Of course, the $5K earned in year one that is retained in the endowment’s corpus will – with time . . . LOTS of time – continue to grow and eventually that $1M gift will pay for more than one student’s costs. However, the key point is at a university of Duke’s stature and nature, scholarship endowments are both crucial and require very substantial capitalization to be meaningful. </p>
<p>@TopTier- I’m aware of the usual process that aid is packaged in, and at least for domestic students, the parent contribution is set, and then a pre-determined amount of summer contibution, work-study, and loans are added (depending on class year), and then the remaining amount is need-based grant. There’s nothing on the website and in the publicly accessible policies to suggest that the packaging process and proportions are different, so I’m just struggling to understand how they are different (because the rest of the process is relatively standardized re: publicly accessible policies).</p>
<p>@purpleacorn (re #11): Duke’s international, undergraduate FA policy differs substantially from our domestic one. Actually, I respectfully submit there are – in fact – readily and publicly accessible webpages that highlight the primary difference, specifically including: (<a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/application/aid#need-based”>http://admissions.duke.edu/application/aid#need-based</a> applies).</p>
<p>I know you thoroughly understand the procedures and the results for US citizens/legal permanent residents – need blind and 100 percent of the demonstrated/calculated need met is a fair and succinct summary. Please compare that to: “Duke University will meet full demonstrated financial need for a limited number of international students. Each year Duke expects to enroll 20-25 first-year foreign citizens who receive need-based financial aid and/or merit-based scholarships. There is no need-based aid for international transfer applicants” (that’s a verbatim quotation from the aforecited URL). </p>
<p>As the foregoing policy statement indicates only about 20-25 international freshmen will receive need-based FA and/or merit-based scholarships, as contrasted to HALF the US freshmen, who receive FA. Obviously, that is a MAJOR difference.</p>
<p>I hope this answers your question. I’d encapsulate by suggesting that, for US undergraduates, need blind and 100 percent of demonstrated/calculated need met means we are incredibly intent on ensuring every student that earns admission has the necessary resources to attend/flourish at Duke. Whereas, for international undergraduates, we – and virtually all of our peer institutions, as well – simply are unable to provide this extremely generous level of subsidized support. Duke’s endowment approximates $7B and financial aid is its largest precisely-defined use (at 22 percent). I have no doubt that as the overall endowment grows, need- and merit-based financial support for international undergraduates will decidedly increase. However, this likely will not happen in a few years; endowments are literally designed to operate for centuries, and it will take many years for international undergraduate students to receive FA similar to their domestic colleagues. </p>
<p>Thank you!</p>