This year, colleges have blurred the definition of "need-blind" acceptance as a result of the reduction of donations made to the colleges.
The definition of "need-blind" acceptance is that students are accepted into the college no matter what financial situation they are in. This ensures that the colleges don't accept too many wealthy students, thus not having to pay a substantial amount in scholarships and financial aid.
Although admissions committees report nothing of the sort, colleges have been using sneaky tactics in order to accept more students that are able to pay tuition in full. For example, Bowdoin college in Maine are planning to offer admittance to 50 more students over the next 5 years, but those spots will not be need-blind admittance. Also, Brandeis are planning to accept more wait-listed and transfer students, both of which are admitted not using the "need-blind" system (Zernike, New York Times).
It is unfortunate that us seniors have to deal with something like college admittance at such a horrible economic time. People are already turning to more local schools or junior colleges for higher education, and I think it's horrible that instead of accomadating those students who need more funding in order to go to their dream private school, colleges are trying to trick us out of that needed money and giving those spots to the more well off. I understand that colleges need money in order to keep their campus learning at its fullest potential, but private universities still are getting a lot of revenue in existing tuition paments and still have loyal alumni who donate millions.
Any thoughts?
Thursday Morning Open Thread: To Boldly Go…
3 hours ago
4 comments:
I heard about this too. I think I read somewhere that if you simply checked the box on the commonapp that said you were applying for financial aid, colleges would possibly consider that as a reason to decide against admitting you. I don't know if this is true, but if it is, I totally agree with Rachel. If a college is wrongfully stating that their "need-blind," it is sort of unfair for students to be unaware that their economic status could be impeding their admission. It sucks that we're in a bad economic time, and it's really unfortunate that many bright and hardworking students who get into their dream college are unable to attend because that school is unable to offer any sort of financial aid.
I don't think that colleges have ever really been "need blind". After all, they can only afford to support so many students. That being said, it is unfair that they are attempting to pay less simply by offering more spots to the people who don't need the financial help, no matter how bad the economy is at the moment. Ths was interesting to read, Rachel. I was unaware that this was going on.
I agree that I don't really think colleges are "need blind" in one way or another. But as the world gets more competitive due to the increase in demand, maybe we can hope that if enough people boycott the extreme cost of college by going to community college , colleges will lower their tuition as much as they can. Unlikely, I know, but it has potential. Also, as the competition increases and colleges deal with larger and larger amounts of money, they begin to run more business-like, more impersonal and in this case that means pulling corporate stunts and tricking people with the small print and hidden fees.
Very few colleges even aspire to be need blind in the first place. Those that do are expensive, older schools with large endowments and large financial aid programs. I sometimes question whether they truly are need blind, but most schools don't even pretend to be. Keep in mind that "full price" is effectively a over-price charged to those who can afford it, and that subsidizes those who don't.
The kind of education being sold by elite, residential, 4 year undergraduate colleges and that being sold at community college are not really comparable. Perhaps the elites are overrated, but they also have a lot more to offer most students than a community college. Necessary? Worth it? That depends on you, your ambitions, and how much value you put in the intrinsic value of the experience and not just the classroom instruction.
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