<p>I’m an international high school student but I’m strongly considering applying early to Bryn Mawr. But the thing is, after calculating our family’s income and expenses, I found that I can only contribute around $1500 to Bryn Mawr educational costs. I know that Bryn Mawr’s need-based, but can anyone tell me if the college has been and is willing to cover the remaining $49000~? Also, will it hurt my chances of admission if they see that I can only contribute so little.</p>
<p>If you are concerned about Bryn Mawr’s financial aid policies, you should talk to the financial aid office. They have been very helpful and patient with my never-ending questions in the past.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr has fully funded a number of international students in the past. I have a friend who got her airfare paid by the college and a short-term loan to buy textbooks before she got her first paychecks. Your mileage may vary though. </p>
<p>The general consensus on College Confidential is that it’s a bad idea to apply Early Decision because you won’t be able to compare financial aid offers. When I applied to college, I got financial aid offers with family contributions ranging from $5,000 to $16,000. They all met 100% of my demonstrated need, but they used different formulas to estimate my need.</p>
<p>Hi b@r!um! I’ve already emailed Bryn Mawr about this (under a pseudo email just in case) three days ago but they still haven’t gotten back to me. I know there’s a good chance that they are all just busy, but I didn’t want to be labeled as Annoying!Emailer by sending simultaneous emails.</p>
<p>What if in the financial aid application form I have put down that my family will really only be able to contribute $1500? Is there a chance that they’ll ask for more contribution (p.s. is this true for other colleges with the same financial aid policies as bryn mawr)? And did your friends get the free airfare by being uber special in some way or will the college just look at your demonstrated need regardless of scores, ec’s, etc. compared to everyone else?</p>
<p>Also, I’ve already considered the reasons why not to apply ED because of the financial stuff. But my heart is set out to BMC. I guess I really can’t afford (literally) to be picky about colleges, but there it is. Although, I think that my decision will depend heavily on your answer in my questions above (will BMC ask for more than I say I can give). Thanks.</p>
Entirely need-based. She is from a country where the average yearly household income is just a few hundred US-$. </p>
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Back in my days colleges seemed to ignore that number completely. They will put your numbers into their calculator and out comes your EFC. I indicated on my financial aid application that I could contribute $6,000 a year. My initial financial aid package from Bryn Mawr had a contribution of $12,000, which got reduced to $7,000 after a review. (We went through my financial aid application line by line. Turned out that I can count mandatory national insurance premiums as taxes. Taxes are deducted from income before the EFC is computed.)</p>
<p>I would also like to point out that the CSS Profile, unlike the ISFAA, does not ask the question “how much can you contribute to your education?” Since Bryn Mawr accepts both forms, it’s unlikely that they care about the answer you give. </p>
<p>But then again, you should really base your decision on the response of the financial aid office, not a random stranger on the internet. They will eventually get back to you - sometimes it takes a week or two. Right now current students have priority because they have a tuition bill due at the beginning of the semester.</p>