<p>I just received my acceptance, and well... there's no financial aid at all for me (~$5k (40,000 in MAD local currency)income bracket). Is it perfectly normal, or should I repeal the decision? Please note I'm an international student.</p>
<p>that you just haven’t received your package yet? That seems far more likely, and it is inconceivable that you would not receive substantial financial aid at that level. In all events, you should most DEFINITELY appeal if you actually receive no aid – may have been a paperwork snafu or something, who knows. But Williams will definitely work with admitted students on aid issues in many cases, in particular if you are an ED admit whose lack of aid is prohibitive. Being an international student makes no difference – admission is not need-blind for internationals, but once you are in, Williams meets 100 percent of need, and the financial aid is as generous as you will find anywhere. Either (1) your package is still pending, (2) there are some resources that Williams believes you have beyond what you state here or (3) there was some sort of mix-up, because there is no way you would receive no aid with that type of financial profile.</p>
<p>Well, following the admission letter there was the financial part stating “We regret to inform you that we have determined that your family’s financial position places your case outside the range in which Williams offers any scholarship assistance.”. Well, maybe a yearly income 40k$ (for 5k combined monthly) seemed normal to them… I don’t think we hid any estate.</p>
<p>That is utterly bizarre. Folks with MUCH higher family incomes regularly receive substantial financial aid from Williams. I would definitely call the financial aid office to figure out what is going on.</p>
<p>This must be a mistake. (They do make mistakes sometimes…wouldn’t be the first time!) I have intl friends who require and receive significant financial aid. Try to get Betsy Hobson or Paul Boyer on the phone…do not email.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are saying your family income is 5K/month which would be $60K/year, and that you actually have $40k after taxes? In any case, Williams generally uses 75K (with typical assets) as the income level that would have a no-loan FA package and below 60K you would pay no tuition and little toward COA plus work study and expected summer contributions. Williams provides extraordinarily generous FA with the average grant being above $42K/year and average annual loan amount below $2500. Surely there is a mistake and you can clear it up promptly with a FA officer! Maybe you added an extra zero to that annual income number when filling in your CSS profile!</p>
<p>Income is only one consideration. What are the family assets?</p>
<p>@honeybee63 you turned out to be right, after we talked to the FA office, the net income they interpreted was way over our net income (they only considered gross income); they also compounded my parents’ future retirement pensions.
Concerning assets, my parents own one house, two cars, no external businesses or real estate. Thank you all, I hope for more clarifications with FA!</p>
<p>Interesting situation considering they are not need-blind for internationals. They thought you were a no-need student. What is taking your gross income from a no-aid level down to a net of 40K per year?</p>
<p>As I mentioned, the FA guys compounded our gross income (around 60k yearly) (which he considered as NET income) the value of our house and future retirement pensions, to get 150k ish (which, well, we wish we had), and hence we wouldn’t deserve any FA.</p>
<p>Did the FA office give you the impression that they would recalculate things and that you would qualify for aid?</p>
<p>That was really the only explanation. Glad you are sorting it out and hope the FA works for you!</p>
<p>@OP: As an international applying in 2005, I was also super-shocked to get zero dollars in aid from Williams. I know many will express shock, but as great as Williams finaid is, not everyone always gets a good deal and it doesn’t always work out. I got an average of $20k offers from other schools and LACs, and when we tried to negotiate with the office, it was not a particularly wonderful experience.</p>