<p>And how the recession is affecting it's admissions decisions:</p>
<p>Stunning! Some highlights:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>This spring, financial constraints forced Reed to drop 100 projected admits with financial need in favor 100 full-pays. That’s nearly 30% of its normal freshman class.</p></li>
<li><p>Endowment was down 25%, requests for financial aid were up 23%, and twice the usual number of admits appealed their financial aid awards.</p></li>
<li><p>To increase tuition revenue, Reed plans to enroll 45 additional freshman and transfer students, going from 355 to 400 new matriculants, adversely affecting the student-faculty ratio. [Note, however, that the transfer students’ stats aren’t reported with those of the freshman class, so the impact on Reed’s US News “selectivity” measures won’t be as great]. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>From the article, it sounds as if endowment payouts and tuition (net of financial aid) account for the bulk of Reed’s annual revenues, making it especially difficult to make ends meet in a sharp downturn like the current one which has hammered the endowment and sharply increased students’ financial need… It’s hard to see why the same factors wouldn’t affect other, similarly situated small colleges in much the same way.</p>
<p>I think it is very sad it has come to this.</p>
<p>I know a Reed alumna who attended on a full scholarship and loved her time there. She credits Reed for pulling her out of the poverty cycle; it’s a pity that fewer kids will get that chance.</p>
<p>I feel really sad about this. Reed is really awesome, and it’s been said to be the only top-tier school to truly take a chance on high-potential students whose traditional measures (GPA or SAT) mayn’t be the best.</p>
<p>Also, I think Reed is really rad for allowing NYTimes to cover its situation.</p>
<p>I’m a Reed alum and I loved it there. One of the things that attracted me to Reed was its lack of pretentiousness so I’m not surprised to see them being forthcoming about the current situation. I can’t help feel that what is happening at Reed is also probably happening at other small schools. I’m not surprised to hear that Reed is curtailing building new buildings rather than compromising the education, that is the kind of school that it is. Our freshman class was a little bigger than usual just because more people matriculated than they thought would and it was fine, the classes seemed plenty small. They have been need aware for a few years but it sounds like this year was the worst for making decisions based on ability to pay.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s the wrong metric, though. Not all of those 100 students would have attended Reed. Reed’s yield in the past has been around 1/3, so that means maybe 33 needy kids won’t be in the freshman class, replaced by 33 full-pay kids.</p>
<p>Yes, something about that statistic didn’t sound right although I couldn’t put my finger on it. I’m glad you picked that up.</p>
<p>Probably, a lot of other colleges are doing the same thing. At least
Reed is upfront about it. Now if you’re a marginal lower income
student you should cross Reed off the list - save the app fee and
the expenses of the visit. It’s a shame that the system works that
way, but at least they’re upfront.</p>
<p>Interesting article – Reed didn’t have enough money to cover financial aid for 100 students they otherwise had planned to accept. <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10reed.html?_r=1&hp[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10reed.html?_r=1&hp</a></p>
<p>Already posted, hehe: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/727737-nytimes-article-about-reed-college.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/727737-nytimes-article-about-reed-college.html</a></p>
<p>What percentage of Reed alumni contribute to their alma mater? Maybe getting those numbers up would help.</p>
<p>Bowdoin has admitted doing this as well and it’s clear that many others had to for this round and certainly will be doing so in the next. Time to take note of this in formulating lists.</p>
<p>^^ 30% of Reed alumni contributed to the Annual Fund in 2008.
[Reed</a> College | Giving to Reed | Cash, Stock, & Other Gifts](<a href=“Frequently Asked Questions - Giving to Reed - Reed College”>Frequently Asked Questions - Giving to Reed - Reed College)</p>
<p>I don’t know that this is a time when many alumni can increase their giving rate. As a Reed alum I’ve donated to the annual fund virtually every year since I graduated (or at least since I graduated from graduate school).</p>
<p>But in the current economy I’m stretched, too, and can’t increase my contribution (which, however, is 4 figures).</p>
<p>I’m very interested in how this affects the stats for the incoming class. I’m checking out all these threads. Thanks for the info.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Obviously you’re not the person to target, but the other 70% who could perhaps be convinced to help out, even a little. An annual 4 figure donation is very generous and surely greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Correct. I’m too lazy to look it up, but this is 100 out of the more than 1000 accepted students. Basically, they are shifting 10% of the acceptances from high-need to full pay. All but a handful of colleges make these calculations every year. It’s called being need-aware.</p>
<p>As for increasing the size of the student body, Reed is hardly alone. Amherst is increasing its enrollment by over 180 students over several years. Bowdoin is also increasing significantly.</p>
<p>I think we need to be careful to not single out Reed in this instance. Although there has been little or no College Confidential interest in the financial crisis in higher education, there are very few colleges that are not taking drastic steps – some more visibly than others. I am very surprised at the lack of interest in this topic since it will impact next year’s freshmen dramatically for the next four years.</p>
<p>^^I’m not sure what you mean by lack of interest. 454 views in less than six hours isn’t enough? What were you hoping for?</p>
<p>Actually I’m guessing that you mean you’d like to see more journalists looking into this. If it’s happening at Reed it’s probably happening at a lot of other colleges. I agree, I’m also interested.</p>
<p>The 25% drop in its endowment can’t be easily made up by even more dedicated alum contributions – especially in a time when philanthropic giving is down across the board.</p>