RSS FeedUniversity will maintain international student aid
As the endowment tumbled by 27 percent, University officials vowed to maintain Stanford’s current financial aid system. Lesser known, however, was their promise to uphold the same policies for international students on financial aid.
According to Director of Financial Aid Karen Cooper, the University will uphold the same pledge in financial aid security to international students, who comprise approximately seven percent of the total undergraduate population.
The actual percentage of international students on aid is nearly half that of the total undergrads — approximately 25 percent of international students receive need-based aid directly from the University, compared to 48 percent of all undergraduates.
Resident vs. Nonresident Aid
The difference in financial aid distribution results from the lack of a need-blind admissions policy for international students.
Unlike for students holding U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident status, admission officers must consider an international student’s ability to pay when making admission decisions.
According to Cooper, international students must indicate during the admissions process whether or not they will be applying for aid.
“If international students do not apply for aid at the time of admission, they do so with the understanding that they will not be considered for assistance from the University throughout their undergraduate career,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Daily.
Yet once international students do decide to apply for aid, they provide family financial data to the University, much as domestic students do.
According to the University’s financial aid Web site, both groups must fill out the CSS Profile when applying for aid. And while domestic students submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), international students submit the International Student Certification of Finances in the FAFSA’s place.
...