Your heart pounds as you carefully open the envelope. You pull out the official-looking letter, and the first thing you see is "Congratulations! Welcome to the Tufts University Class of..." You breathe a huge sigh of relief and maybe even jump for joy. But your excitement fades when you realize that you have not been offered financial aid.
For foreign students, this scenario is all too common. Sophomore Myra Valenzuela - who is originally from the Phillipines but lives in Rome - said she "didn't bother" to apply for financial aid when she sent in her Tufts application.
"They don't give aid to international students. My brother studied here, and he said it was pointless. I didn't even consider it," she said.
Eugenia Vandoros, a sophomore from London, also chose not to apply for financial aid. "I knew they didn't give much money," she said. Vandoros, a member of Tufts' International Club, mentioned that one of the club's goals is to raise money for international students. The club has established a fund devoted to this cause.
Many students criticize Tufts for being "stingy" in its aid packages to American and international students alike, but few understand how aid money is actually awarded.
Director of Financial Aid Bill Eastwood admits that Tufts does not have a need-blind admissions process - that is, Tufts does consider a student's ability to pay when making admissions decisions.
According to Eastwood, however, Tufts' does not consider financial need as much as students think. "In practice, Tufts has been pretty much need-blind the past few years," he said. "We just let the applications roll in, and if a class is a little too expensive we do some fine-tuning."
Tufts' officials claim that admitted students are given full eligibility for aid. In other words, students whom the University decides to admit are generally given full aid - assuming that need can be demonstrated. A second round of students are offered admission on the condition that they can meet costs.
"A lot of schools [who identify themselves as] need-blind do not guarantee that they will meet full need. Some schools may accept more 'needy' students, but the aid package may be insufficient for the student to accept admission," Eastwood said.
Tufts' financial aid policies apply to both American and foreign students. Eastwood admitted, however, that Tufts awards "very, very limited aid to international students."
"Three years ago, it was none. In the past three years, we've had six to eight students given full aid packages who come from countries where the economy is such that they couldn't come here without financial aid," he said.
According to Dean of Admissions David Cuttino, Tufts administrators are aware of the lack of financial aid to foreign students and are working to correct the problem.
"The percentage of financial aid that goes to foreign citizens is less than one percent. International students must compete for a limited amount of foreign aid, based on need," Cuttino said. He added, however, that even limited offers of financial aid from Tufts should serve as incentives for foreign students to apply.
"The first challenge is to do a good job meeting the needs of admitted students. Then we go back to students who applied for financial aid, and we tell them they must demonstrate the ability to meet their full costs [in order to be admitted]," Cuttino said. "Foreign students are first considered for admission, then for aid. The current expectation is that they have the ability to afford transportation and living costs."
According to Cuttino, about 19 percent of the Class of 2005 is composed of foreign residents or US citizens with permanent overseas addresses. Of that group, about 20 percent requested financial aid. Cuttino did not saw how many students demonstrated need or how many actually received aid.
Over 40 percent of all Tufts students receive some type of financial assistance, whether it is in the form of state or federal assistance, loans, University grants, or work-study programs.
"US citizens and permanent residents are able to use federal resources and University resources [to fund their educations]. Foreign students are unable to do that," Cuttino said.
Cuttino spoke of a recent initiative at Tufts aimed at attracting more funding for international student aid. According to Cuttino, Tufts is working with the International Board of Overseers, benefactors, and alumni to increase aid to foreign citizens.
Dean Cuttino said that Tufts' ability to advertise even a low level of financial assistance widens the range of students who apply. This year's entering class hails from 43 different countries - a stat that, according to Cuttino, "improves the quality of the Tufts experience."
