"I received an e-mail Wednesday night saying congratulations on your admission to Fordham from the financial aid office," Zoe Rankin said.
We interviewed Rankin via Skype from Rochester, New York. She was one of 25-hundred seniors hoping for early admission, who were notified that they could apply for financial aid.
"The next day I got an e-mail saying that's not an accurate representation of your application status. Please check back later that afternoon and I did check back later that afternoon; I did not get in," she said.
It was the same for Florida based college hopeful, Antonietta Walker, who we spoke to me by phone.
"I went up to my parents and I was like, I can't believe I might be accepted here. I think I might be accepted. This says I should apply for financial aid. So when I went into my e-mail and saw that I wasn't, it was like a complete downer," Walker said.
Walker forwarded to us an e-mail from Fordham , apologizing for the mistake. Financial aid is handled by a company called student aid services, which has also apologized.
"It's still disappointing now. I wouldn't be this upset if it weren't for the fact that I was told I was accepted first, and then just completely switched around and told I was denied. It was overwhelming," Walker said.
In a statement Fordham wrote: "Fordham and its undergraduate admission staff are acutely aware of the high hopes prospective students and their families have regarding college acceptances. The University deeply regrets that some applicants were misled by the financial aid notice."
"I'm disappointed, but there are other schools," Rankin said.
500 of the 25 hundred students involved were rejected outright; most of the rest are on what's called deferred status, meaning they will not find out whether or not they have been accepted until early next March.
