Need-blind admission

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 universities 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.

Until 2006, Grinnell College was also need blind for international students. The student activist group, The Coalition of Progressive Democrats advocates for the reinstatement of this policy.