University financial aid has received an increasing amount of attention across the nation in recent months — from Harvard and Princeton’s decision to drop early admissions because of its alleged advantage to affluent students to a report from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings that the aid application process is too complex. And while Stanford boasts its need-blind financial aid program and its decision last spring to waive tuition requirements for families making under $45,000 a year, the University is not as generous to international applicants.

Unlike the procedure for American citizens and permanent residents, an international applicant must declare from the outset whether he or she is asking for financial aid. Applicants that do not pursue financial aid go through the same process as domestic applicants, though they must provide proof that they can afford to attend, if accepted. And these students are barred from seeking financial aid at a later date, regardless of any change in their economic circumstances.

Those international applicants who do ask for financial aid are put into a separate pool. Director of Financial Aid Karen Cooper described the process as highly competitive.

“For international students, essentially what happens is that early in the process the financial aid office tells the admission office the amount of money that we can give for aid,” Cooper said. “So there’s some back and forth of ‘do these students fit.’ We are very much paying attention to the dollar amount of these students. Basically we’re not going to admit a student that we can’t commit to funding.”

Stanford will not admit an international applicant who requests financial aid unless that aid can be granted, but there is only $1.5 million dollars of financial aid available for international undergraduate students. In recent years, only about 35 incoming international students received aid.

Cihan Baran, a junior from Turkey who did not seek financial aid, said everyone from his high school, the prestigious Koch School in Istanbul, that applied for financial aid from Stanford was rejected.

“Most people know that asking for financial aid strictly limits your chances,” Baran said. “That’s the general sentiment. If you’re applying to some school like Stanford and you’re asking for financial aid, the college counselor will tell you not to be hopeful.”

Cooper argued that financial controls out of the University’s hands prevent international students from receiving the same consideration as other applicants.

“It’s very different from the funding for domestic students in that the institutional funds are the only funds we have available to us,” Cooper said, “while for domestic students, there are federal loans and state grants that we have available to make up their need.”

Another difference is how that aid is awarded, Cooper said.

“If they come from Western Europe or Canada, countries where they are going to have the ability to make payments on loans once they finish their education, we do expect them to borrow. But from developing countries where it is impossible for them to return home and make payments on a loan, they don’t have a loan component in their financial package.”

In recent years, financial aid for international students has increased. Though 35 aid recipients may seem small, five years ago only 20 students were admitted with financial aid. And President John Hennessy announced last year that he wants Stanford to be need-blind for international students by 2010.

But there is still a large disparity between aid for domestic and international students. Financial aid to international students, who make up 6 percent of the undergraduate student body and roughly 10 percent of the applicant pool, is supported by a mix of special endowments and unrestricted funds assigned to that purpose by the University. However, the fund for domestic applicants is roughly $66 million dollars, more than 40 times the $1.5 million allotted to international students.