Waitlisted for funding?

[ColaHaha]

Hello everyone,

A few days ago I received an email from the director of the department of political science at Rice U. The email mentioned that my application file is one of the best and the committee is very supportive of it but because of Rice's central administration's budgetary restrictions, they're not yet able to offer me admission with funding at the moment. The email also stated that all Rice's phd students receive tuition waivers and stipend. So based on this email i feel i'm qualified but somehow the final result depends on the money.

I've read some previous posts from applicants who also got waitlisted. I know I can ask them about my rank on the waitlist, but since the email has already said that i'm one of the best and if they're "that" willing to let me know about my rank, they would have told me in the first place (no?); I feel asking about my rank on the waitlist only makes me sound too desperate and anxious, which is not how i usually act...(ok maybe i'm really overanalyzing it but it's really hard to stay cool and to desire Rice so badly simultaneously...hahaha)

So there, I'm looking for some suggestions. Anything. Let me know what I can do to get off the list. Or if you happen to be really familiar with Rice's phd program in political science, feel free to write anything. I haven't seen anyone got accepted to Rice's poli-sci program this year on the forum, so i'm pretty curious.