<p>I think Barium hit the nail on the head with post 15. A middle class family in a third-world country with a low dollar value is almost certainly considered low-income after you convert to USD and therefore will be eligible for a lot of aid at the tippy top schools. This isn’t wrong per se, because either way, they wouldn’t be able to afford the education otherwise, because their dollar value is weak when converted to USD. </p>
<p>As an international applying for aid, I myself think Williams should have gone need-aware and still remain no-loan. I mean, diversity is one thing, but this is quite a big price to pay for US students. If it were my country, I’d feel the same way all of you do.</p>
<p>EDIT : I do agree that it’ll be extremely hard to find full-paying internationals at an LAC, even one like Williams. So the only trade up would be to lower its percentage of internationals. I do NOT agree, however, that poor-high achieving international students shouldn’t have a chance.</p>
<p>For example, I know someone, seriously low-income (like less than $5000 a year) first-gen and all that and she got waitlisted at Williams and got full financial aid from Wellesley. She’s had to face so many things in life, and I’m so glad she made it. And you have no idea the image an American education like that portrays when the rest of us hear of it, knowing that she probably wouldn’t have had a chance to get an education, at least a proper one, without her financial aid from Wellesley.</p>