The rise in applications at Hamilton has been linked to its move to need-blind admissions program, which began in 2010.
"The Positive Impact of Going Need Blind
Some evidence suggests colleges and universities can increase their applicant pools by becoming need blind. Hamilton College in upstate New York decided to adopt need-blind admissions for the class entering in the fall of 2010 and has seen gains in both students receiving Pell Grants and diversity measures. It also felt an immediate boost in fund-raising.
…
The percentage of first-year students receiving Pell Grants rose in the immediate years after Hamilton went need blind, Inzer said. It was 13 percent in 2009-10, and then jumped to 17 percent the next year. Since then it has bounced around at generally higher levels, notching 13 percent in 2011-12 before rising to as high as 18 percent in 2012-13 and spending the next four years alternating between 15 and 17 percent.
Also rising was the number of U.S. students of color as a percentage of full-time enrollment. The mark rose from 17.4 percent in 2009-10 to 23 percent in 2015-16, increasing every year. Over the same time frame, Hamilton’s number of admitted students held relatively steady, moving from 1,390 in 2009 to 1,357 in 2016 and never rising higher than 1,441 in the years between."
from Do Colleges Need to Be Need Blind by Rick Seltzer in Inside Higher Ed (2016)