NEED-BLIND ADMISSION

(Redirected from Need-blind)
'Need-blind admission' is a U.S. term denoting a college admission policy in which the admitting institution claims not to consider an applicant's financial situation when deciding admission. Generally, an increase in students admitted under a need-blind policy and needing financial aid requires the institution to back the policy with an ample endowment or source of funding.
Generally, a need-blind admissions system is rare. Most universities cannot offer it and not all that do offer it to all students; many schools offer need-blind admission to American first-year students but not to internationals or to transfer students.
Skeptics point to the steady amount of people accepted with aid at many need-blind schools, claiming that although the school calls itself "need-blind," the amount of students receiving aid remains the same each year, leading them to believe that the school has limited aid to give.
There are only 6 colleges that are need blind for international students (students that are neither US citizens nor Permanent Residents). These are MIT, Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, Williams College, and Middlebury College.
Need-blind admission does not always mean that an applicant with demonstrated financial need will be awarded financial aid, nor does it require that 100% of the applicant's demonstrated need be met.

Contents

List of colleges that are need-blind for U. S. students and guarantee full financial aid for U. S. students

Incomplete list of institutions professing a need-blind policy but do not fund a student's full financial need

Incomplete list of institutions actively pursuing a need-blind policy

Need-sensitive institutions

List of colleges that are need-blind for U. S. students and guarantee full financial aid for U. S. students

★ Amherst College

★ Boston College

★ Brown University

★ California Institute of Technology

★ Claremont McKenna College

★ Columbia University

★ Cornell University

★ Cooper Union

★ Dartmouth College

★ Duke University

★ Georgetown University

★ Grinnell College

★ Harvard University

★ Massachusetts Institute of Technology

★ Middlebury College

★ Northwestern University

★ Pomona College

★ Princeton University

★ Rice University [1]

★ Stanford University

★ University of Chicago

★ University of Pennsylvania

★ University of Richmond

★ Vassar College [2]

★ Vanderbilt University

★ Wellesley College

★ Wesleyan University

★ Williams College

★ Yale University

Incomplete list of institutions professing a need-blind policy but do not fund a student's full financial need

★ Bard College [3]

Incomplete list of institutions actively pursuing a need-blind policy

★ Tufts University [4]

Need-sensitive institutions

Many reputable US institutions that championed "need-blind" policies in the past have modified their policies due to rising tuition and financial aid costs, as well as less-than-ideal returns on endowments, despite the principle of the matter. This largely affects prestigious institutions with vulnerable resources that do not offer merit-based aid but base their financial aid entirely on need and promise to deliver 100% of financial need (comprising mostly of grants). These stated institutions refer to themselves as "need-aware" or "need-sensitive," a policy that somewhat contradicts their call to admit and provide education for all qualified candidates regardless of economic status but allows them to remain able to fund completely the needs of all accepted students.^[1]
For instance, at Hamilton College, Mount Holyoke College and Smith College, at least 95% of students are admitted without their financial aid need being a factor (i.e., 'need-blind), but a slim percentage (1%–5%), generally students wait-listed or with borderline qualifications, are reviewed in modest consideration of the college's projected financial resources. All of these aforementioned colleges grant all acceptees full financial aid packages meeting 100% need.^[2]