Need-Aware admission of international students

While domestic students in the United States are often admitted need-blind, meaning that aid will be provided to cover the gap between their ability to pay and the cost of attending university, Cornell joined several other prestige institutions in adopting "need-aware" admissions beginning in 2017. While the change will result in international students who are admitted receiving aid to afford attendance, the President of Cornell's student assembly has expressed concern that the new approach may result in some students being rejected for admission who might have been able to pull together funding from non-Cornell sources if they wanted to attend. Others at Cornell indicate that "need-aware" admission will prevent international students facing financial obligations they cannot meet.

While Liz Reisberg's follow-up raised concern about the generally broad gap between international students' financial means as compared to domestic U.S. students, she added that she found Cornell's strategy reflected a struggle to provide at least some opportunity through limited aid funds to a more economically diverse group of international students.