Of the 350 applicants who will receive letters of acceptance from Radcliffe today, a substantial number who required financial aid were refused funds because of an acute shortage.

About 50 per cent of this year's 2233 applicants requested financial aid. This can be attributed to the increase in room, board and tuition, Mrs. Margaret W. Stimpson, director of Admissions, said.

Three hundred of those admitted are expected to come to Radcliffe. This high rate of acceptance means that Radcliffe cannot offer substantially more scholarships than funds permit. Also, Radcliffe cannot count on many upper-classmen with financial aid to leave school, as can many colleges.

The problem was solved two years ago by offering across-the-board loans to 'Cliffies on scholarship, but this year the committee on admissions did not feel that the loans should be increased.

Mrs. Betty L. Marple, director of Financial Aid, said that an unusually large number of otherwise qualified students were turned down because Radcliffe was unable to offer them financial aid. Fourteen applicants were accepted but denied aid despite recognized need. "We would have a different kind of college if we could give as many scholarships as we wanted," she said.

Only 30 members of the Class will be Merit Scholars, as compared with 35 in the Class of '67, although about the same number applied.

The percentage of public school students, however, has increased slightly to 67 per cent, while the number from private schools has remained at 30 per cent and the students from foreign countries decreased in number.

There was a surprising increase of 24 per cent in the number of applicants from New England. Mrs. Stimpson said this figure was possibly due to Radcliffe's closer association with Harvard in recent years.