Foreign Applicants to Brown Denied Financial Aid Support

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--Despite Brown University's claim in a pamphlet set to foreign students that they "compete for financial aid on an equal basis with all other applicants," eight foreign students last year were told they had been accepted to Brown but would not be offered financial aid because the university lacked funds.

Six of the eight students now attend other American colleges, one attends Brown and one student from China could not attend any university in the United States, the Brown Daily Herald reported.

Jennifer Wood, admissions officer for foreign students, said that while the number of foreign applicants increased by more than 50 per cent over the last few years, the number of acceptances fell 24 per cent over the same period. This decrease was in part due to a more limited financial aid budget, she added.

Kamal Ahmad, a student member of the committee on admissions and financial aid charged that the university is discriminating against foreign students and that "now the only foreign students coming here are those who can afford it."