<p>Does anyone know how generous Tufts is with international students in terms of financial aid? Thanks for any answers :)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say it’s generous. The fund is “limited” and only for “highly qualified” as said on its website. But it is one of the few national universities that still offers FA to int’l students.</p>
<p>Yeah…how limited though?</p>
<p>It’s very hard to get admitted as an international student needing financial aid (I read in the Tufts Daily a year ago that only 12 international students from the Class of 2011 were admitted with financial aid), but if you do get accepted, the amount of aid you receive will depend on the FA form you submit. To my knowledge, Tufts is very generous. Someone I know gets close to $50,000 a year. So, apply!</p>
<p>@primeminister: Ah I see. Schools tend to be less generous towards international students that require FA however 
Thanks for the info though :)</p>
<p>Does asking for FA count against you? Or do they do what, say, Georgetown does, and tell you “We’ll admit you, but we won’t give you financial aid” and wait for your reply? Because we’re only asking for FA just in case. If I get admitted without FA, that’s not a total deal breaker for me, since my parents say they’re selling the house anyway and they’ll give me some and loan me the rest.</p>
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<p>I don’t believe that’s how it works. As an international applying for FA, it’s harder for you to get accepted, because you’re placed in a more competitive ‘pool’. But if you are accepted from that pool, then the amount of aid you receive does not depend on your merit or your nationality, but on your demonstrated need. The difference is that these colleges are less generous with places for applying international FA applicants, but don’t discriminate in the amount of aid that is eventually given to admitted internationals.</p>
<p>What srrinath said is correct.</p>
<p>IFA is complicated stuff. With extremely rare exceptions, nearly all need-based financial aid is restricted and informed by US federal policy, for domestic and international students alike. And, without getting too messy, schools that award financial aid to international students must do so entirely independently, creating very different limits on the amount of money available and where that money comes.</p>
<p>I’ve often heard the President of Tufts, Larry Bacow, talk about Tufts’ *moral obligation<a href=“emphasis%20mine”>/i</a> to be an affordable choice for every student we admit, and for all four years of that student’s time at Tufts. Something about the way he chooses to frame our financial aid policies, as a moral choice, resonates with me, and I’m proud that we approach our international applicants with the same spirit and values as everyone else. Every student admitted to Tufts will receive a financial aid package to make enrollment an affordable option. Period. You can live in Bangladesh or in Boise, and that principle is the same. Nevertheless, those values have points of friction with the federal funding that makes so much domestic finaid possible. Srinnath’s interpretation is basically correct.</p>
<p>Ok, the federal law stuff may be more that you need to know, but I share with you the realities of how a school like Tufts operates because I think it matters. Those of us working with international applicants take seriously the responsibility of being thoughtful about the amazing, often inspiring, young people who apply to schools in the US. The reality can be sobering at times, but we don’t let that stop us from being ambitious about both our future and yours. It shouldn’t, in my opinion, stop you either.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that international financial aid is often merit based. My friend received a lot of financial aid even (nearly full ride) though his dad is a surgeon.</p>
<p>^^^ True, but not at Tufts.</p>