as universities in the us struggle to cope with the downturn experts predict fractional increases in tuition fees and greater competition for financial aid anuradha anup kumar evaluates whether the era of plentiful financial support is drawing to a temporary closejayesh patel name changed was on course to pursuing a masters degree in media studies at a university in the us he had excellent academic grades the requisite work experience and had put together an enviable collection of recommendations and essays after extensive research of universities in the us he picked three public universities for all practical purposes he was a shooin understandably then in late january he was stunned to discover that he had not been accepted by any of them i was told that though i had excellent qualifications they could not accept me that was strange in itself recalls jayesh he had requested a teaching assistantship in his application and believes that may have been the reason for the rejection he adds although i am sure students already studying in the us are unaffected i have friends there who said so i think there is a real problem for students applying now i have been told that aid is tough at the moment and to add to it i have feedback from an nri friend whos applying for a phd in marine biology who corroborates this view cost controlit is no secret that the downturn has officially hit academic circles the new york times on february 20 2009 reported that harvard university the wealthiest university in the us was now short on cash according to the times harvard had frozen salaries for faculty and nonunion staff members and offered early retirement to 1600 employees further the divinity school at the university had warned that it may not be able to cover tuition for all its needy students this is due to the shrinking financial endowment of the university which has already reduced by 8 billion while harvard has predicted its overall endowment portfolio will end the fiscal year in june down 30 yale and princeton have projected a total 25 drop for the fiscal year universities in the us are cutting costs by imposing partial or complete freezes on hiring stalling development projects indefinitely and now resorting to layoffs which includes professors one cannot predict whether this deterioration of endowments will eventually translate into restricted financial aid but as investments shrink and donations fall universities may eventually be forced to be frugal with financial aid trouble ahead unless youre from a reasonably wealthy family or are independently so chances are youre evaluating ways in which you can lower your tuition costs or have to pay none at all most students count on acquiring a scholarship or fellowship or pursuing a teaching assistantship ta or research assistantship ra eun sook kwon a student from south korea is pursuing a masters in journalism at the university of texas at austin and covers the international students and education