The University of Texas System has apologized for “the anguish and hardship” dozens of Nepali applicants suffered after the system’s Tyler campus revoked their full scholarships this spring. In a written statement released on Friday, the system said that Tyler had made “significant changes to admissions and operational processes … to ensure this situation never occurs again.”
Previously, a spokesman for Tyler told The Chronicle that the university had mistakenly promised scholarships to more students than it could afford to support. He declined to provide details on what he called “an oversight” and “a perfect storm of multiple variables.” In the end, the university in mid-April withdrew full-scholarship offers to 61 Nepali students, who were then offered $5,000 scholarships and reduced tuition instead. All but two of those students have apparently decided not to enroll at Tyler.
Meanwhile, the university did preserve full-scholarship offers to 32 other Nepali students.
As news of the rescinded scholarships spread, colleges all over the world offered to help the Nepali students, who are being assisted by college advisers in Nepal and Singapore, as The Chronicle reported in a follow-up story this week. So far, a handful of institutions have more or less matched the initial offers from Tyler, for a few students. Texas Christian University, for instance, will cover the full cost of attendance for two of the students. Other colleges are offering partial scholarships and, in some case, reduced tuition, fees, and housing.
All three of the students featured in The Chronicle’s coverage have accepted offers from other colleges. Roshan Poudel and two other Nepali students will attend the State University of New York’s campus in South Korea on full scholarships. Archana Adhikari is one of two students who plan to enroll in January at Trinity College in Connecticut; both will receive grants covering nearly their entire cost of attendance.
And Roman Shrestha has accepted a full-ride offer from the University of Denver. “I didn’t believe in ‘miracles’ before I heard from @UofDenver,” he tweeted on Thursday. “You made me restore my faith in humanity and love for justice.”
Still, it’s too soon to know where the many other Nepali students will end up this fall. Many of them have little money for college.
The Texas system’s statement acknowledged that the pledge to prevent future errors “is not much consolation to the international students who put their full faith in us.” Tyler, the statement said, “continues to do everything in its power to help as many of them as possible.” Besides forwarding them emails from other institutions, however, the university is not actively helping them find spots at other colleges. That task has fallen to college advisers and admissions officials around the globe.
Eric Hoover writes about admissions trends, enrollment-management challenges, and the meaning of Animal House, among other issues. He’s on Twitter @erichoov, and his email address is eric.hoover@chronicle.com.
