<p>ok, i just got my acceptance package along with a letter from the financial aid office of Washington University in St.Louis. I am an international student studying in the U.S. I applied for tons of financial aid. Since Wash U is a need-aware school and they accepted me, I expected that they a least meet a decent amount of my need. But when I opened up the letter, I was shocked and tremendously dissapointed. It says in the letter that "we are sorry that we are unable to offer you any financial asistance award", which means they don't have a single penny to help me. I asked for probably 40k, I would deal with it even if they gave me only 30k, or less. But now they tell me that I have to pay the full tuition on my own. This is just ridiculously outrageous! There is no way that I can afford to go there. Should I just give up on Wash U and wait for other schools?</p>
<p>if you can't afford WUSTL without aid, then you don't really have any choice but to wait for other schools
In the link I posted re International students and aid- it says that WUSTL offers aid to less than 100 international students.</p>
<p>To be honest, Wash u is by no means my first choice. And I showed little or no interest at all through the process.</p>
<p>Perhaps they reserved aid for students who were interested in attending?</p>
<p>They don't always offer great aid to resident students who * want* to attend, so sorry to say, it doesn't surprise me that they didn't give an international student who showed little interest a free ride, although it does surprise me that you were admitted given that they are need aware.</p>
<p>First, I'm sorry about this situation. You are certainly not the only student right now who is getting acceptances with financial aid that is lower than you hoped for. The question I have...you say you applied for tons of financial aid, but you don't say whether you have financial need. In many cases, you must demonstrate financial need to qualify financial aid. AND I also don't know what WashU's policy on finaid and international students is. Some schools deal with aid for international students differently than for students who are US citizens. Wait and see what the other schools offer you. You may be very pleasantly surprised by an offer from another school. Good luck.</p>
<p>well, I definitely showed my need in my financial aid application. My parents total income is <$10,000.</p>
<p>Most schools aren't generous with international aid. You'll probably find that most of the schools you are accepted into will offer you little to no aid. Good luck trying to work it out though.</p>
<p>To OP: The tone of your letter sounds as if American Universities 'owes' you money. Why? Grow up, there are many deserving citizens who do not get the aid they think they deserve, but not many cry like you.</p>
<p>In my understanding, a need-aware school, such as Wash U, would have taken an international applicant's financial need into account when they made their decisions. Since schools like Wash u only have limited financial resources, they usually only admit a small number of international students in financial aid need and whom the schools have enough money to meet their need. and I think i have a reason to feel angry about Wash U's admission policy. They are fully aware of the dire financial situation i am in and know that there is no way I can go there without a decent amount of financial aid. Yet, they somehow cast aside their "need-aware" policies and surprised me for a few days with the early admission letter, then throw me this letter with the apology " sorry we really want you here, we know you are poor, but you have to pay on your own"</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted at her top two schools and her finaid package at both was disappointing. Just because you get accepted is not a guarantee for finaid except at the schools that guarantee to meet your full need (and in your case do so for international students). There are VERY few schools that do this (meet full need for international students).</p>
<p>My daughter is a US citizen but we are considering schools in Australia and British Columbia</p>
<p>Yes we have need, but as an international student I don't expect any aid for her. I think unless you are a pretty amazing student and are attending a school that has merit for internationals- not going to be a lot of help going to school outside your home country.
Perhaps you will have better luck with one of your other schools
But you didn't address the thoughts expressed above- about WashU being far from your first choice and how you did not express any interest thru the process- or do you not remember posting that?
Why would they allocate aid to someone who didn't appear to want to attend?</p>
<p>You have company. Many US citizens (including my son and probably eventually my daughter too) had to pass up dream schools due to lack of financial aid. WUSTL wasn't even your dream school. Go somewhere cheaper. It will work out.</p>
<p>simba, that is a horrible post and I'm not even sure you understood the op's point.</p>
<p>I agree with the op (i'm an american citizen), wustl is a need aware school and therefore should have rejected him/her if they could not offer him the subsequent financial aid. For internationals, this is part of the admission's process at most American schools. I am sorry for your situation. Did you apply to any public universities?</p>
<p>simba has a kid at princeton</p>
<p>simba, the point of the OP is that WUSTL is a need AWARE school. If they couldn't afford to give him financial aid, they should have just rejected him instead of sending him an acceptance with no aid. That's just cruel, IMO.</p>
<p>Besides, it's not like private universities (like WUSTL) have an obligation to give financial aid to US citizens first. They can do whatever they want with their money...it's the state schools that need to look out for citizens (and residents of their state).</p>
<p>magusxxl, osuforme: Re-read my post and OP's post and his title. Op comes out with a whinny sense of entitlement. His logic: need aware school--->admission---->aid.</p>
<p>Need aware: Yes we are aware of your need for money, but this is our offer. Also, need aware school meeting demonstrated need is another matter. They may meet demonstrated need for domestic candidate either fully or partially, but not to internationals.</p>
<p>It is a private school. They can decide to give money and admission to any one they want to and feel like. They are also allowed to make mistakes.</p>
<p>OP might have generated more favorable and helpful responses if he had asked for help rather than declaring, "To be honest, Wash u is by no means my first choice. And I showed little or no interest at all through the process.", and still getting upset that he didn't get any aid.</p>
<p>I don't get what the OP wanted WUSTL to do. It sounds as if the school did not want to give him aid. O.k., that's their perogative. Should WUSTL have rejected him then? </p>
<p>What if the OP won some outside scholarship or suddenly inherited money or valued WUSTL so much he was willing to go massively in debt? I think the school showed the OP respect and didn't "screw him over." They offered him admission and left it up to him to decline if need be.</p>
<p>wash u is also very upfront about the fact that they do not have the funds to meet the full needs of its international students. Not trying to blame the victim, but they should have done a better job of research.</p>
<p>they maybe were going to reject you, but instead they didnt say that you were rejected, they just basically rejected you by not making it financially possible for you to attend.</p>
<p>socalrunner, i don't think WUSTL is as mean as you described.</p>
<p>i know bro, i was kidding. i thought you would see the sarcasm in my post.</p>
<p>I get so sick of students who feel entitled.
This is a prime example: An international student who wants $40,000 a year in aid chooses to apply to a school that doesn't give much aid to internationals and that also bases some part of admissions decisions on the students' demonstrated interest in the college.</p>
<p>The OP didn't demonstrate much interest, managed to somehow get accepted, yet complains that the university offered him no financial aid.</p>
<p>Sheesh....</p>
<p>Perhaps the OP was really being saracastic, but if so, what a waste of space on this board.</p>