Questioning the Sustainability of Financial Aid – Katrina Randolph

               Questioning of the sustainability of university financial aid has been a topic of discussion in recent months.  The Inside Higher Ed article “Grinnell, one of the country’s wealthiest colleges, questions sustainability of financial aid” discusses Grinnell College’s announcement of its potential changes to need-blind admissions.  According to the article, although Grinnell College has the fifth-largest endowment of any liberal arts college, the administration views that its current financial aid model is unsustainable.  This announcement follows the suspension of need-blind admissions by Wesleyan University in the summer (Kiley, 2012b) and Tufts University in 2009 (Javetski, 2009).

                The President of Grinnell College, Raynard Kingston, stated slow endowment growth and significant increases in the need for aid are the driving factors in the examination of its need-blind admissions process.  Under a need-blind admissions policy, an applicant’s financial situation is not considered when deciding admission.  According to Kiley, institutions approach need-blind admissions in a variety of ways (2012a).  About 40 colleges and universities, including many elite private institutions, have adopted a need-blind admissions and meet-full-need financial aid policy (Kiley, 2012a).  Some institutions are need-blind only for students in the United States.  Others become need-aware for waitlisted students or transfer students. Kingston said that Grinnell is need-blind for students on the waitlist and need-aware for international students (Kiley, 2012a).

                Tufts University has seen the effects of the suspension of need-blind admissions.  Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin found that the institutions applicant profile changed.  Coffin stated, "The only thing the economic factors had an effect on was whether students chose to apply to Tufts or not.  Some families held back applications because they realized they wouldn't qualify for need-based aid (as cited in Javetski, 2009)."  Factors including the potential change in student population will be examined prior to the Board of Trustees’ decision in February (Kiley, 2012a).

                How will need-aware admissions change student demographics?  In an effort to raise funds, will institutions admit those that are economically qualified students rather than intellectually qualified?  How will qualified students from middle-class families be impacted by these changing policies?

References

Javetski, G. (2009, April 2). Tufts accepts 26 percent of pool, suspends need-blind admission. The Tufts Daily. Retrieved from http://www.tuftsdaily.com/tufts-accepts-26-percent-of-pool-suspends-need-blind-admissions-1.1639896#

Kiley, K. (2012, October 1). Grinnell, one of the country’s wealthiest colleges, questions sustainability of financial aid. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/10/01/grinnell-one-countrys-wealthiest-colleges-questions-sustainability-financial-aid

Kiley, K. (2012, June 1). Need too much. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/06/01/wesleyan-shifts-away-need-blind-policy-citing-financial-and-ethical-concerns