With generous donors enabling Brown University to achieve a $120 million fundraising goal, Brown plans to become need-blind for all undergraduate international students starting with the Class of 2029, which will arrive on campus in Fall 2025.
Brown has sustained a need-blind admission policy for domestic undergraduates since 2003, eliminating from the admission process the consideration of each applicant’s ability to pay tuition. Extending the policy to international undergraduates will expand the University’s ability to enroll and educate talented students from the widest possible range of backgrounds and income levels.
After implementing the policy for the Class of 2029, the University will rely on the continued generosity of donors to raise an additional $100 million to make the initiative permanent. The move is part of an ongoing commitment to admit students irrespective of their ability to pay for tuition, and to ensure the sustainability of financial aid initiatives for generations to come, said Brown President Christina H. Paxson.
“Making Brown an affordable choice for extraordinarily talented international students from every income level is nothing short of transformational,” Paxson said. “The University is at its very best when we welcome and support students from the widest possible range of backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints, who learn from each other on campus and generate new understandings and insights in an increasingly complex world.”
The initiative builds on existing efforts to attract international students, which have progressively enabled a broader range of top students from around the world to choose Brown with the support of robust financial aid — like junior Lynda Winnie Umuhoza, who is from Kigali, Rwanda, and is concentrating in computer science.
“If I hadn’t received such a generous amount of aid, I would not be at Brown,” Umuhoza said.