<p>It’s really a miracle that I got into Brown, my dream school and with no other schools accepting me. My SAT is just 1860, my essays were not phenomenal, yet I got in. Maybe it’s because no one from my country ever attended Brown yet. But now that they’re offering me no financial aid, I just simply can’t afford to go. I don’t want my dad to loan anything as he’s already under much pressure. What should I do? Write them a letter? What chance do I have of persuading them? Because if they don’t give me anything, my only option is too take a gap year and apply somewhere else again next year. Imagine having been accepted to your dream school and not being able to go. I understand being accepted somewhere is not going to determine your life but everybody in my school knows I’m accepted already and it would just be weird and embarrassing to still be here next year while everybody else goes to college. Please help.</p>
<p>Did you indicate your need for financial aid on your application?
If not, that’s the reason you haven’t been offered any.</p>
<p>If yes, either Brown made a mistake in calculating your Expected Family Contribution or your family makes sufficient money (200K+/year or something I guess) so that Brown considers its sticker price of 60K to be payable.</p>
<p>The EFC mostly is payable but requires heavy sacrifices. So your family in theory HAVING sufficient money but not WANTING to spend such a high sum on education might be the real reason why you might not be able to go to Brown. Given the high price tag of US Colleges, this is perfectly understandable. It’s up to your family to decide what your financial or academic priorities are.</p>
<p>As an international student, you knew when applying that Brown was need-aware for internationals. If you applied for aid, knowing this, and weren’t offered any, I doubt that there’s anything that you can do.</p>
<p>Did you apply for financial aid? To get financial aid, you have to follow the rules and instructions, fill out the forms in the time table given. Just like you had to fill out the application forms with rules, instructions and deadlines. If you did not do so, then, no, you are not likely to get any financial aid. You may also have an issue with getting future aid if you applied for admissions but not for financial aid, since many schools will have a sit out period before getting any aid if a student does not apply for aid the first year. Back information is also requested to see if there were any changes in circumstances between the two years. If not, the school may think you were playing games trying to up your chances of admissions by not applying for aid for freshman year, and then trying to get the aid thereafter.</p>
<p>You will most likely not be able to change the financial aid at this point. Sorry.</p>
<p>Yes, I did indicate my need for financial aid on my application. My family’s income bracket is 70K. I don’t think that counts as sufficient money. So you guys think they probably won’t change it? That means gap year for me…</p>
<p>financial aid is calculated only in part on income bracket. It also takes into account the total net worth etc. So if your parents own businesses, land, money in banks etc. then those are resources to also help pay for your education. I think your only possibility of financial aid is if you did indicate the need for financial aid, and for some reason did not get all the correct forms in (or something changed in finances from when the forms were done for aid.) Have you looked into scholarships that might exist in your country? Do any companies sponsor students? Is there some type of program that pays for college, with pay back in service in a company, or for service to the poor etc.? These may or may not exist, and would be things to look into.</p>