College returns to need-blind admissions

Hayley Tsukayama News Editor

Beginning with the class of 2012, financial circumstance will no longer factor into whether or not a domestic applicant may attend Vassar.

After 10 years of considering applications through the lens of a “need-sensitive” admissions policy, Vassar is returning to “need-blind” admissions. As the College also promises to meet 100 percent of a student’s demonstrated need, the move indicates the strength of the College’s financial status. The push for need-blind admissions came from both the College’s executive administration, the VSA council, and the general student body.

President of the College Catharind Bond Hill believes the policy’s will effect the College’s image as it courts new students. “Your family's financial situation won't play a role in the admissions process,” she said. “As we go out in the world, trying to recruit the most interesting students to come here, it’s important to have that “clear and simple message.”

Last December, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council passed a resolution strongly urging the administration and the Board of Trustees to return to admissions criteria that does not include an individual’s ability to pay for his or her Vassar education. The proposal passed unanimously through the Board of Trustees.

President Hill first announced the change at last spring's commencement. VSA President Sam Charner ’08, who was a member of last year’s VSA Executive Board, said it was gratifying to see that “student leadership can really get things done” on a grander scale.

In her professional career, Hill has dedicated herself to improving accesbility in higher education. “Being need-blind means that students can apply and know that their financial need's not going to be taken into account in the admissions process,” said Hill. “That just seems like a very important message to be able to tell students. Tt seems like the right thing—the right direction to go—as a way of increasing socio-economic diversity at Vassar."

For a preview of the effect this policy might have on Vassar, Hill added, one need only look at the at the class of 2011. “I think the admissions office, knowing that [the change] was likely to happen, went through the spring admissions round kind of as if they were need-blind.” The number of students on financial aid, according to Hill, jumped from “something like 46 percent to 52 percent.” Though one cannot attribute this jump explicitly to the need-blind policy, Hill hopes this trend of socio-economic diversity will continue to grow under the new policy.

“I’m very glad that we can finally say that we’re need-blind,” said Charner, “because even though it only affected a very small percentage of students, just the fact that we couldn’t say that may have made the College seem inaccessible to some students.”

With tuition on the rise after a 5.7 percent increase, Vassar is less affordable than ever. Vassar originally adopted need-sensitive admissions a decade ago, when strains on the College’s resources proved too much for the institution, according to an August press release from Vassar’s publicity office. During the past decade, according to Vice President for Finance and Administration Elizabeth Eismeier, it was very difficult to predict and budget for how much aid a particular freshman class needed. Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger agreed saying, “It became very difficult to predict things, and so we modified [our financial aid policies] to some degree, but never abandoned that principle.”

Though the College ensured that one’s economic position did not unduly affect an applicant’s chances for admission, many see this move as a way to solidify the College's commitment to accessible higher education. An in-flow of funds to Vassar’s financial aid budget also aided the decision.

When former president Frances Fergusson left her position in the spring of 2006 after 20 years at Vassar, the Board of Trustees raised funds in her honor and, according to Eismeier, “huge commitment was made to financial aid from folks honoring Fran’s presidency,” resulting in the biggest fundraising year to date. The financial aid budget has nearly tripled in size from $9 million in 1990-91 to $26 million in 2007-08.

“We think we have the financial strength to withstand the volatility over time,” Eismeier said, adding that the College is also committed to increasing the amount of money in the endowment to back up their need-blind policy.

“It was just one of those wonderful things where several things came together and made it the right moment,” said Kitzinger, citing the unprecedented fundraising levels, the commitment of the student body—especially former VSA President Abel McDonnell ’07—and the dedication and expertise of President Hill.

"In some ways I felt like we were in the worst situation,” said Hill, “You know, some schools just can't afford to be need blind…but in Vassar's case it seemed like it was playing a role in some decisions, but not a lot of decisions. So we weren't saving that much money yet we weren't holding to what we thought was the better policy. It just seemed the natural thing to do.”

The policy does not currently extend to international applicants, though Hill said she would “would love to see us move in that direction but we will have some work to do to figure out exactly what the financial implications would be.”

Only six schools in the country are completely need-blind for domestic and international students: Harvard University, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Middlebury College and William College, where President Hill was formerly Provost.

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Dean Borus could not be reached for comment, as he was on a recruiting trip in Asia.