<p>It really doesn’t matter much. Most of the top schools, especially the Lacs,
are not really accessible to 99% of low income kids regardless of whether
thy’re need blind or not. Extreme selectively and various other practices
are very effective at keeping high need students out. The other side of the
message is what colleges want to get out - “we’re looking for full paying
customers”</p>
<p>Yes, the Madoff scheme took it’s toll. I find it unfortunate but not shameful. At least both schools were up front about what they had to do. </p>
<p>[Tufts</a> freezes some salaries, announces layoffs - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/03/tufts_freezes_s.html]Tufts”>http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/03/tufts_freezes_s.html)</p>
<p>I doubt any of them just picked an option out of the air, or went out of their way to screw the students.</p>
<p>Admissions can infer (with a great deal of accuracy) a lot about demographics, including family income, just from a zip code and a high school name. If you worked throughout high school at a low level service job and that is on your Common App, well that is very telling as well about your family fortunes. That being said, my sister is at nb Cornell with great aid and I am going to nb University of Rochester with an excellent package; my parents make less than $65000 per year. It would actually cost us more to go to our state school, SUNY Binghamton, than it would to go to the two aforementioned privates. Bing just offered a bunch of loans and I know they will be overcrowded and cutting services with the mess New York State is in. Right now our family feels blessed with our opportunities; hopefully things will get better for all soon.</p>
<p>Marathonman88 - what are the last 6 or 7 schools that are truly need blind?</p>
<p>Disagree with interesteddad about no-loans programs appealing primarily to “wealthy customers.” As a family with a lot of financial need, no-loans was essential for us because our income is such that we couldn’t make payments on loans even if we could get them. We can’t pay the basic bills we have now. I am not adverse to modest levels of student borrowing since the students have time to whittle those down. For us, as parents, to have to take on more debt than we already have, though, would be financial ruin.</p>
<p>Also, lower income families are more adverse to educational debt because they tend not to have confidence in being able to pay off those loans. This was one of two big reasons the no-loans schools began these programs. The other being that students who graduated with heavy debt were less able to pursue lower-paying career options like teaching, social work, etc.</p>
<p>[Schools</a> Awarding International Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.internationalstudent.com/schools_awarding_aid/]Schools”>Schools Awarding International Financial Aid)</p>
<p>The Best Colleges and Universities
US Schools That Offer Need-Blind Admission to International Students - under a need-blind admissions policy, a college or university will admit students regardless of their ability to pay, and for any students that cannot afford the pricetag, the university awards scholarships and other institutional aid to make up the difference. There are now eight US schools that offer need-blind admissions to international students - Amherst College is the most recent to join this elite group, for school year 2008/2009. Basically, if you can get in, you can afford to go - they are:</p>
<ol>
<li>MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Massachusetts</li>
<li>Harvard University in Massachusetts</li>
<li>Princeton University in New Jersey</li>
<li>Yale University in Connecticut</li>
<li>Williams College in Massachusetts</li>
<li>Middlebury College in Vermont</li>
<li>Dartmouth College in New Hampshire</li>
<li>Amherst College in Massachusetts</li>
</ol>
<p>gryhead:“If you worked throughout high school at a low level service job and that is on your Common App, well that is very telling as well about your family fortunes.”</p>
<p>Yes, could be, but there is an opposite side to this story, an applicant to MIT worked at a Baskin-Robbins in the summer and her father is a Silicon Valley executive and a mega-millionaire, so the fact that she “worked” at all was a plus for her, and of course she was accepted, she was also very good at math. Not only did her stats meet the criteria, her families credit score did too.</p>
<p>In the case of Cornell, increasing need blind financial aid, even in the face of the economic downturn,is being pursued because it allows students more intellectual freedom (they can pursue studies that may not be the most lucrative without going into debt) and it supports the Cornell’s motto of </p>
<p>“I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.”</p>
<p>Ezra Cornell, 1868</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Tufts’ treasurer actually did a decent job. She pulled a huge chunk of their money out of a particular fund that many universities had lots of money in, right before it fell apart and the money went down the drain.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The “no-loan” policy only applies to the actual student loans that the student would otherwise be expected to pay off after college. There are still plenty of parents taking out loans to pay tuition at “no-loan” schools. The schools will even help arrange these “PLUS loans” to help a family pay their EFC.</p>
<p>The student loans were already capped at the top schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s not what *need blind *means. There are plenty of colleges that are need blind in admissions and then offer little or no financial aid. Many more that are need blind then gap the financial aid, providing less than the demonstrated need.</p>
<p>There are only seven colleges that are need-blind and full-need for all applicants, including international students.[1] These are Dartmouth College, [2] Harvard University, MIT, Princeton University, Williams College, Yale University, and Amherst College.[3]</p>
<p>Needs blinds and full-need financial aid policy–where the school agrees to fund the meet the full demonstrated financial need of all its admitted students.
[Need-blind</a> admission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Need-blind admission - Wikipedia”>Need-blind admission - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Tufts administration looks more and more like a deeply troubled leadership that drags down such a great academic institution by being unable to accept, own and correct its huge financial errors.
It’s not just the economy …
20 million dollars, 100% lost in a single investment and not a single comment from the Dean about how this loss affected the admitted students.
The ones responsible for such financial disaster are still in power, making decisions for the school’s future.</p>
<p>Ultimate Dishonesty.</p>
<p>How Tufts students and academics feel about it and what will be done to correct such manipulation of the college’s endowment and limited resources?
Will it be business as usual?</p>
<p>AP</p>
<p>Note: A non-profit that doesn’t distribute 5% of its endowment every year to the charitable causes for which was established endangers its tax-deductible status, which means the main contributors to Tufts wouldn’t be able to receive a 35% tax deduction in the future.
A tax deduction, let’s not forget, is a subsidy that is made possible by all the taxpaying Americans.
So the financial manipulation that took place at Tufts is not just their business but concerns everyone that pays their taxes in this country.</p>
<p>To me, Tufts got to do what they have to do to stay financially sound and competitive. They don’t have huge endowment to begin with. What I dislike the most are the ones that don’t do need-blind admission but at the same time, give out merit-based scholarships to buy top students who may already be wealthy!</p>
<p>Sam, if you were one of these 850 students that applied to Tufts based on the school’s then existing policy and didn’t apply to another school in the same tier you wouldn’t make the same claims.
Tufts administration clearly manipulated a large number of well qualified applicants.
Schools determine their budgets not a month before the final deadline but many months before that.
If you have access to the school’s budget you can see how much is paid to consultants and college employees whose main job is to determine all the required details of financial aid.
Most of the schools are very capable to publicize policy changes on time and doing such are not insulting their customers (the applicants and their parents) with such Tuftesque after the fact shenanigans. The administrators made a mockery of the school’s reputation, admissions and its well established business processes.
Students that were admitted or waitlisted at Amherst, Cornell and other more superior than Tufts colleges were rejected by Tufts apparently because of these students FA need.</p>
<p>People need to stop confusing need blind and meets full need. They are two different things. Many, many schools are need blind for admission but then do not meet, or pretend to meet, full need. There is a practice many colleges engage in known as admit/deny. This means they accept a student and then offer no or too little aid.</p>
<p>Also, the whole concept of everyone being able to go to a school that meets full need is a myth. Many families can not pay their EFC, need is defined by the colleges and assumes college savings, a substantial part of current income and the willingness to borrow on the part of the parents. This does not work out for a while lot of middle class folks.</p>
<p>Akis
I am not saying they are not guilty in that regard. I was mainly focusing on their decision to “drop” need-blind admission. I agree they should have publicized the change when they made the decision.</p>
<p>I think international aid is what needs to be suspended.</p>
<p>These policies are shameful.</p>