Brown headed toward need-blind admissions

At most Ivy League institutions, prospective students can expect to be evaluated for admission without regard to their ability to pay tuition bills. But one Ivy, Brown University, has not been need-blind when selecting its students. Due to budgetary constraints, Brown has for years been unable to ensure applicants a need-blind admissions process. Limited funding has meant that the admissions office must sometimes consider applicants' financial resources when making decisions, generally for the final 5 to 10 percent of students they choose to admit. But if trustees and students have their way, Brown will join the rest of the Ivies in their need-blind processes. A report released by a financial aid committee last May called for the school to reach full need-blind status within eight years. The report described the current situation and outlined a plan and time line for the change to be put into place. The Brown Corporation, the school's governing body, discussed the report at its meeting this month, but has not yet decided on a course of action. Among undergraduates, student sentiment has been in favor of a shorter time line for the school to become fully need-blind. Joshua Mandelbaum, a member of the Undergraduate Council of Students and an attendee at the Corporation's meeting, said that "the students recommended five years [for the implementation of a new policy]." Students have created an initiative called the Last Dollar Campaign to raise money through alumni donations to help speed the process. "The idea was to target alumni until [Brown is] need-blind," Mandelbaum said. Once students are admitted, however, all of the Ivies including Brown cover their entire demonstrated financial need. According to Mark Nickel, a spokesman for Brown, "[For] anyone who matriculates, we will meet 100 percent of their need." Michael Bartini, Brown's director of financial aid and a member of the financial aid committee, echoed the recommendations of the report. "Certainly from an institutional perspective and from an admissions perspective, we'd like to admit students without concern [for] the ability to pay," he said, continuing that it was inevitable that some students might be concerned about whether they could afford to attend Brown. With so many high school seniors applying for admission, the impact that Brown's policy has on its applicant pool is not completely certain. "Certainly the pool of applicants is large, the largest it's ever been," Nickel said, adding that they have come close to achieving need-blind admissions in certain years. "Usually we're within 5 or 10 percent of being need-blind," he said. Nickel added that the goal of achieving need-blind admissions would have to be "considered... against the backdrop of all the competing needs the university has" and that undergraduate and graduate student financial aid needed to be evaluated together. Mandelbaum said he felt that the adoption of a need-blind policy was essential. "I think it's something that people want to see done, and done as quickly as possible."