University Business - May 2011 - (Page 17)

VIEWPOINT Becoming Need-Blind in an Environment of Need How one institution has made it work By Joan Hinde Stewart C HANCES ARE I AM NOT the only college president being asked these days why my institution is not following Sewanee’s lead and reducing tuition by 10 percent—or more. Several years ago, before the recession, I was being asked a diﬀerent question about my institution, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y.: Why are we still including loans in student ﬁnancial aid packages when a number of peer colleges have eliminated them? And I imagine some of my presidential colleagues have been asked about Hamilton’s decision last March to adopt a need-blind admission policy. Such questions imply that colleges that do not respond to a peer institution’s action will be at a competitive disadvantage when recruiting students, but that’s the wrong way to look at these initiatives. Reducing tuition, eliminating loans, and becoming need-blind are generally attempts to address the same challenging question: What can be done to increase access to a college education? at’s a fundamentally important query, and it’s being answered by colleges in diﬀerent and creative ways. Parents told us that the academic achievements of their children deserved a merit scholarship. to keeping loans as part of students’ ﬁnancial aid packages, Hamilton eliminated its decade-old merit aid program in March 2007 and reallocated those funds to needbased aid. Reaction from the higher education community was generally supportive, but public opinion was not. Parents of high school students, already anxious about aﬀording a college education, told us directly and on blogs that the academic achievements of their children deserved a merit scholarship. And who could blame them? After all, these parents were aware of programs such as the HOPE scholarships in Georgia, and this helped raise their expectations that success in the classroom would be acknowledged in the same way prow- ENSURING ACCESS Hamilton has taken several steps that are counter to current trends and reﬂect our long-standing commitment to ensuring access—a deeply held principle at an institution where six of nine senior staﬀ members were the ﬁrst in their family to attend college. But our actions have not been universally applauded. In addition universitybusiness.com ess on the playing ﬁeld might be rewarded with athletic scholarships. Upon closer study, however, we began to understand that the criticism stemmed from the mistaken belief that Hamilton would be rewarding the ﬁnancially most needy at the expense of the academically most deserving. But this was not an either-or situation at Hamilton. Eliminating merit aid meant more resources to support the admission of the most academically talented students and meet their full demonstrated ﬁnancial need. Another criticism, that the academic proﬁle of Hamilton’s entering class would suﬀer without merit scholarships, proved to be unfounded. Even our decision to keep loans as a part of students’ ﬁnancial aid packages was made, paradoxically, to ensure access—because it enabled us to stretch limited ﬁnancial aid dollars and was consistent with our belief that students should have a reasonable ﬁnancial stake in their education. Despite our 2007 decision to reallocate $1 million annually in merit money to need-based aid, we were still need-aware at the margins for each entering class. In other words, a family’s ability to pay our price was considered in just a small percentage of admission decisions each year. is bothered many on a campus that takes pride in being a “college of opportunity,” as evidenced in our 2009 strategic plan. at plan Joan Hinde Stewart has been president of Hamilton College (N.Y.) since 2003. May 2011 | 17 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - May 2011

University Business - May 2011
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Ad Index
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Money Matters
Human Resources
Community Colleges
Networks Freshen Up
Collaboration Station
Someone to Watch Over You
What's New
End Note

University Business - May 2011