Tufts remains on the cusp of adopting a need-blind admissions policy after administrators discussed the remaining steps to be taken last Saturday at the Board of Trustees' November meeting.
Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin and University President Larry Bacow met at the Babson College Executive Conference Center to discuss Tufts' current need-sensitive policy, which takes into account applicants' ability to pay but commits to meet all accepted students' demonstrated need.
Need-blind schools accept qualified applicants regardless of their ability to pay.
"Financial aid will be one of our two highest priorities in the next capital campaign - the other being support for faculty," Bacow said.
"Need-blind admissions will ensure access to a Tufts education for all," Bacow said. "It will enrich the learning environment by encouraging and supporting the very best students to attend Tufts regardless of their ability to pay."
Tufts Community Union Senate Trustee Representative Chike Aguh, who attended some of the meetings this past weekend, said trustees were very supportive of moving toward need-blind admissions.
"I felt that the meetings were incredibly productive, and I was heartened by the trustees' near unanimous belief that need-blind admissions is the way Tufts needs to go," he said.
Bacow and Coffin said the University does not currently have the funding for need-blind admissions, however. Even after raising $600 million in the Tufts Tomorrow campaign, which ended in 2002, Bacow said Tufts is still under-endowed.
Need-blind admissions have been on Tufts' priority list for at least two years - the Tufts Task Force on Undergraduate Education identified a long- term commitment to need-blind admission as early as December 2002.
"The trustees are hoping to raise the money for us to be need-blind through fundraising in the next capital campaign," Aguh said. "This money would allow us to be able to afford need-blind admissions. Money is the only thing that is keeping Tufts locked into need-sensitive admissions."
Many of the schools Tufts competes with for students have already implemented need-blind admissions policies, including Boston College, Bowdoin College, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, MIT, Northwestern and the University of Pennsylvania.
"Personally, I feel that it is imperative for the University to become need-blind in its admissions process," Aguh said. "By not doing so, the University cannot get the best and the brightest. And when we don't get them, someone else does, and we suffer from a competitive disadvantage because of it."
Bacow said there are simply not enough full-paying students coming from the top 10 percent of their class with high SAT scores to go around.
According to Mark J. Mitchell, vice president of the Financial Aid Services Team of the National Association of Independent Schools, "schools face a delicate balance between meeting their enrollment goals and staying within the constraints of a limited financial aid budget."
Bacow expressed concern this weekend that the alumni-giving rate is slightly lower than he would like it to be. He said he would earmark some funds for scholarships but that there are currently not enough available. Bacow said the Tufts community needs extensive alumni outreach.
"This year's financial aid was lower than usual because in the previous year, so many students who were offered aid accepted," according to junior Senator Athena Bogis.
Students are generally supportive of the initiative to adopt need-blind policies. "Students benefit the most when they are exposed to diverse viewpoints, beliefs and backgrounds," senior Phil Hummel said. "The best way for Tufts to foster this kind of environment would be to create a class of students from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds."
Freshman Leslie Stephenson agrees. "There are so many awesome kids who are missing out on Tufts because of our need-sensitive policy. We're missing out on them too."
Tufts administrators hope to eventually provide need-blind admission for both international and domestic students, though the former are a secondary priority right now.
The University currently offers no aid for international students. "The goal is to have need-blind admissions for everyone," Aguh said, "but we will not know if that is feasible until the dollars are raised."
