According to a Herald poll released two weeks ago, 38 percent of respondents said they receive financial aid from Brown. Of those individuals, 62 percent were very or somewhat satisfied with their aid packages, and 36.9 percent were very or somewhat dissatisfied.
The poll was administered to 461 undergraduates in the Registrar's Office from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3. The margin of error for financial aid questions was 7.3 percent.
According to Director of Financial Aid Michael Bartini, the poll results were a "pretty good representation" of Brown students receiving financial aid. The actual percentage of undergraduate students receiving aid is in the low 40s.
"Brown has one of the greatest financial aid programs in the country," Bartini said. The University currently has a need-blind admissions policy, and the financial aid office meets 100 percent of students' demonstrated need. If a family's financial situation changes, the student's aid package can be adjusted accordingly by the office.
Brown's need-blind admissions policy only holds for U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens with appropriate visas who are applying as first-years. Brown is "need-sensitive" for transfer, international and Resumed Undergraduate Education students. That the University is unable to institute need-blind admissions for these students is "a matter of resources," according to Bartini.
When asked why he thinks around 40 percent of students on financial aid reported dissatisfaction with their aid packages, Bartini said, "Sometimes, our measure of what (students' families) can do and what they can (actually) do is different. There are a variety of reasons that students can be dissatisfied, and this may or may not have to do with our policies."
He continued: "Paying for college is difficult even for people not on financial aid. One year of college is more than the average family income - that's a lot."
Zara Mathews '07 receives financial aid from the University and is happy with her aid package. "I feel that they covered most of my family's need," she said. Her family pays for its portion of her tuition out of its income.
"Overall, I think Brown does a good job with financial aid, but there are still areas that need improvement. I feel that a lot of people don't talk about financial aid but that there is a good number of students who are not satisfied," Mathews said.
Sean McGeary '09 said he believes he received a "very good package" this year and that the University really met his family's need. He perceives Brown students belonging to three main financial tiers - students who have no need for aid, students who could not possibly attend Brown without aid and students whose families could "just swing it" by making changes to their financial expenditures. Of the 40 percent who were not satisfied with their aid packages, McGeary said many of them probably belong to this last group.
Megan Danyliw '09 had mixed feelings toward her financial aid package. She feels "very lucky" because the school covers a large percentage of her tuition, but "(her) family still struggles to make tuition payments."
"I feel that Brown has a good financial aid policy in relation to other schools. I feel that the financial aid office is more than willing to talk out any problems you may be having," Danyliw said.
"I think the financial aid office (at Brown) is pretty efficient these days in responding quickly to students and ameliorating their concerns," said Armando Bengochea, associate dean for freshman studies. He said that students he has referred to the financial aid office generally report "getting good help."
Internationals, transfers and RUEs
Mathews argued that the University's "need-sensitive" policy for transfer, RUE and international students attracts a "certain kind of people" from that part of the student population to Brown. The school suffers because a certain portion of students is not eligible for aid, she said.
Neha Zope '09, an international student from Bombay, India also said the University's financial aid policy "limits the international community to only those (students) who can pay."
"So many capable students can't come to good institutions because they lack the financial resources to pay for their education. They wind up having to settle for places where the quality of education is not as good because they are not being given financial assistance," Zope added.
International students do receive financial aid, but aid for foreign citizens is "limited," according to the Web site for the Office of Admissions.
Harvard and Yale universities are among the few schools in the United States that have instituted a need-blind admissions policy for international students. Bartini said that improving the University's financial aid policy for international students is "on the list of future enhancements."
Sonya Mladenova '09, an international student from Sofia, Bulgaria, receives financial aid and is happy with her aid package.
"I heard that some people were told that there was no aid for international students but I know that some international students do receive financial aid," Mladenova said.
Danyliw also expressed her concerns about the school's financial aid policy for transfer, RUE and international students. "In order to get more diversity into the school, we have to offer the same thing to these students," she said.
Teresa Tanzi, a RUE student who expects to graduate in 2010, is the former president of the Resumed Undergraduate Students' Association. The number of RUE students accepted each year is limited by funding, Tanzi said. There are around 100 RUE applicants on average each year, and, historically, only 10 to 12 out of that pool are admitted. There are around 30 RUE students at any given time attending Brown.
The RUE student population does not have anywhere near the amount of funding undergraduates have, Tanzi said.
RUE students are admitted after the Resumed Undergraduate Education Policy and Admissions Committee reviews their applications and ranks them without looking at their financial need. Students are then admitted according to how much funding is available for RUE students that year. Therefore, if the sum of the top five students' financial need amounts to the total available for RUE funding, then only those five students would receive aid for that year. If the top five ranked students' financial need was not very high, then more students would be able to be admitted into the program, according to Tanzi.
RUE students cannot apply for financial aid unless they apply for it when they submit their application for admission, Tanzi said. Therefore, if the financial situation of a RUE student changes, his or her aid package would not be adjusted in any way.
Tanzi said RUSA has talked to the administration about increasing funding for the RUE program and that it have received assurances that the University is "working on it."
For her part, Tanzi receives around $2,000 a year in aid from the University and has taken out loans to finance the rest of her tuition.
"I know (President Ruth Simmons) is committed to having diversity on campus, and I think that RUEs really add a lot to the campus," Tanzi said. "I do want to encourage the administration to increase funding (for the RUE program), but I know that the University has a lot of financial constraints and a lot of things that come ahead of us," she added.
The Brown Corporation announced the introduction of aid for transfer students last February. Prior to that, transfers did not receive aid from the school. The Herald reported in September that the University Resources Committee planned to raise the budget for transfer student financial aid from $400,000 to $1 million by the beginning of this year.
"As time goes on, we will improve the financial aid policy in an order that seems most reasonable for the institution and in sync with our resources," Bartini said. "We want to make it better. We have made it better. But that doesn't mean that we're not going to keep trying."
