Will the economic crisis affect the admission decisions?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>I know that Rice and many other colleges say that the decision process is "needblind" but is it, actually? Aren't the chances of one asking for a considerable amount of money hurt? And the other way around: if one's a full-pay, won't this boost his/her chances? </p>

<p>Rice in particular says that for this year's entering class the financial aid more than ever before, but how are the decisions affected generally? (mean. not only for Rice)</p>

<p>I'm an international so I don't quite have the feel of how things are in the US economic-wise, but I guess since that's were the crisis started from it is the most affected country.</p>

<p>Thanks for any responses, I am really concerned with whether asking for financial aid might hurt my chances.</p>

<p>Also, Good luck, as the Judgement Day approaches...</p>

2

<p>I’m sure Rice is still need blind. In hard economic times, it’s even more important to keep excellent students from enrolling elsewhere because of financial aid. In fact, more and more schools are cutting anything but aid ( [Some</a> colleges cutting anything but aid - UPI.com](<a href=“Some colleges cutting anything but aid - UPI.com”>Some colleges cutting anything but aid - UPI.com) ). </p>

<p>As far as admissions goes, I THINK that schools will accept fewer than usual just to be safe. But I think this will be accompanied by a long waitlist, which many applicants would get off in May. I don’t know… that’s just what I think might happen.</p>

3

<p>Well, a few schools are waitlisting more than usual as well due to the economy as opposed to accepting less.</p>

4

<p>“Rice University will offer need-based financial aid to a limited number of international undergraduate applicants entering Fall 2009.”</p>

<p>[Financial</a> Aid at Rice University](<a href=“http://financialaid.rice.edu/main.aspx?id=78]Financial”>http://financialaid.rice.edu/main.aspx?id=78)</p>

5

<p>Oh, I didn’t see that you’re an international… I still think Rice is better at providing aid to internationals than other equally-ranked institutions. Rice even has a couple of generous merit-based scholarships for international students, which not many other schools at this level have.</p>

6

<p>Also I think it’s worth considering that Texas has not been hit as hard as many other states…our economy is much more insular.</p>

7

<p>I’ve read some articles saying that private schools will be accepting more students than usual because they expect more students to decline to attend because of the higher cost of education. People will opt for cheaper public schools because they cannot afford to go to private schools.</p>

8

<p>The truth is, i can make it even without a scholarship… Personally I find it impossible for the colleges not to look at your financial standing (mean. if you need aid or not).</p>

<p>In the end, cynical as it may sound, colleges (private at least) are big businesses that cannot function without any profit…</p>

9

<p>I just visited Rice this weekend. The admissions counselor there said they have access to your entire packet except financial stuff and couldn’t use it even if they wanted to because they just don’t know.</p>

10

<p>my teacher [who used to be involeved with the admisssions process] says that no school that is <em>completely</em> need blind, its just that some are more need blind than others</p>