Hamilton’s need-blind admission policy is the focus of a Dec. 18 feature story published by Huffington Post titled “How One Top College Ended a Policy that Weeded Out Poor Students.” The article detailed how Hamilton made the decision to eliminate merit scholarships and later to adopt the need-blind policy that eliminates applicants' financial need from consideration in admission decisions. President Joan Stewart, Vice President of Admission Monica Inzer and seniors Brian Sobotko and Nick Gustaitis were quoted in the piece.
Hechinger Report writer and the article's author Jon Marcus described how the need-blind policy was funded. “At that meeting at which board members agreed to drop financial considerations from admission decisions, six of the trustees pledged $500,000 each toward this goal. The college has since raised $40 million for the initiative and has begun another fundraising campaign to support the policy, which was put in place in 2010.”
“In opting for a need-blind admissions process, Hamilton has bucked a national trend. Just 41 colleges and universities in the U.S. follow this approach,” Marcus wrote. The article also referenced the college’s SEAS fund established for student financial emergencies.
The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education, produced the article in collaboration with the Huffington Post.
