At the end of last school year, Principia began requiring students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile forms to apply for need-based financial aid. CSS Profile and FAFSA make it possible for students to qualify for federal funding, including Pell Grants and Parent PLUS loans. A downside to this is that federal aid cannot be extended to international students who make up 42% of the college, so they cannot benefit from Principia’s use of federal funding. With the shift to using FAFSA for domestic students, some international students are concerned they may receive less financial aid than in previous years.

How has the way Principia handles aid changed?

Principia has historically been generous with the amount of financial aid it gives out to both its domestic and international students. Before being approved for Title IV funding in 2024, Principia gave out financial aid more freely from its budget. 

“We were having people basically…fill out an application for financial aid from the family to the financial aid office that was relatively self-contained, and then the disbursement of aid…came from Principia funds that we have stored away for those purposes,” Billing Services Representative Charles Boyce said. 

So, students filing for financial aid only interacted with Principia’s offices and received money directly from Principia’s financial aid budget. The federal government was not involved in this process. One reason Principia was able to provide aid from internal funds alone was its small student body. Until 2019, the college only admitted students with a background in Christian Science, which generally resulted in small class sizes. 

Niklas Peschke, assistant director of admissions, recruitment, and outreach, said “it was fairly justifiable [then] to just give out four-year program scholarships to internationals and domestics as well” because of how few students there were. Now that Principia is open to all, more students can be admitted, and it is less feasible to give out as many full rides or to pull directly from the college’s endowment, which is not easily replenished. Hence, the shift to federal funding. 

What money is available to international students?

International students are still automatically considered for merit-based scholarships based on academic performance and character, just like any other student. Principia is still open to giving out merit scholarships to all qualified students.

“You can get up to all of tuition covered as an international or a domestic student, just based [on] academics and character,” Peschke said. 

Character scholarships exist for those demonstrating involvement in their home communities, for being involved in extracurriculars, or for their contributions to the Christian Science movement, like attending or working at a Christian Science camp, for example. Further details about what scholarships Principia offers can be found on the school’s website. As of now, merit scholarships and grants are the only forms of funding available to international students. 

There is an important distinction between need-based financial aid and school-sponsored funding, such as scholarships. Need-based financial aid is determined by a student’s financial circumstances, including factors such as their household income, assets, and household size, according to Bestcolleges.com. FAFSA covers this type of aid. Merit-based aid, on the other hand, is generally determined by factors like a student’s academic performance or GPA, and is awarded regardless of a student’s ability to pay for college. Merit-based aid is available to both international and domestic students at Principia. 

How are international students perceiving the change?

Some students have expressed concern that international students are receiving less money in aid than in previous years. 

“The past two years, I feel like my financial aid has decreased a little bit. I have been paying a little more. I also get some aid in my PrinBill by going to [a] Christian Science camp to help; they give you a little bit extra financial aid. But yeah, I’ve faced some problems in the past year,”  senior Enzo Donadelli said. Donadelli graduates this fall and is paying for his tuition this year by working jobs around campus. He spoke with Crystal Thornton in the Financial Aid Office to ask why his aid offer decreased, but says he still does not understand why he is receiving less money than before. Still, he appreciates that the college is generous with its aid, as he relies on it to pay for college. “I do still think Prin has a good system. Without the financial aid, I wouldn’t be able to come to the U.S. and study here, so that was really what I was depending on,” he said. 

Others have reported that their scholarship package was not affected by changes over the years. “Fortunately, I haven’t had any problems with scholarships or things like that because they have been very clear, and they haven’t changed anything. In that case, it hasn’t affected me,” rising senior Jesús Soto Bossa said. He will be a senior in the spring semester. Soto Bossa is paying for college through various merit scholarships based on his high school grades and GPA, and with grants from financial aid donors. “Since I came here, I knew everything I had to pay for. That was pretty clear,” he said.

Are international students actually receiving less financial aid to come to Principia?

In short, no. While the form of aid is different for domestic students, international students are still eligible for the same amount of merit scholarships as they were before. The switch to federal funding and aid will have the most impact on domestic students, since they will have to apply for funding based on their demonstrated need. 

Many international students currently receive grant scholarships to help pay their tuition, which are provided by Principia donors to the financial aid budget. Since that money is internal to Principia, it is not affected by Principia’s change to using federal funding. Also, they can still use the CSS Profile to demonstrate financial needs, according to Interim College President Meggan Madden. 

“We are still meeting [the] need. We may not be meeting 100% need, but we are still meeting [the] need,” Madden said. “My sense is that it should not change for international students.”