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Getting Ready to Discuss Need-Blind Admissions
As we return from summer vacation amidst global political turbulence and re-adjust to the academic rigor and social stimulation of the Macalester environment, the campus dramas of last Spring seem a distant memory. Yet as we re-enter the Macalester Bubble, it is clear that certain issues will, and should, return to the fore. Without a doubt, among the most critical is the debate surrounding our need-blind admissions policy.
Macalester has long prided itself on this policy, in which admissions officers evaluate applicants without looking at their financial situation, guaranteeing full assistance to those accepted. This policy has historically constituted an important element of the school’s identity. We can take pride in this policy, which has undoubtedly enriched our economic diversity. Many students and alumni credit need-blind for enabling them to attend Macalester. Understandably, admissions policy is always a sensitive issue, and we recognize the need to engage in serious campus-wide dialogue before any policy changes take place. All members of the community must be willing to participate in this debate and we must shy away from reactionary positions that refuse to consider current realities and future possibilities for the school.
Last year, the Resource and Planning Committee examined the current financial aid situation and recommended how the school should respond to swelling financial aid demands along with a sharp decline in our endowment. Because the need-blind/full-need policy does not cap the total aid awarded, right now the college cannot control how much money it spends on financial aid each year. The college is facing a fiscal crunch while financial aid spending is surging, this fact cannot be disputed.
Of course, scrapping the need-blind policy is not the sole option. In its report last April, the Committee offered several possible solutions to deal with this situation. Its ultimate recommendation was to move to a need-aware policy, which would impose need-blind standards on all but the final ten percent of admissible applicants and has been adopted by several of our comparison schools that were formerly need-blind.
We do not wish to take a premature stance on this charged issue, which has barely been discussed across campus. Rather, we wish to point out how easily emotions can usurp the complexities of issues like these. The term “need-blind” has seemingly come to symbolize Macalester’s commitment to domestic diversity, but one only needs to glance around campus to realize that this longstanding commitment has had less impact than we like to believe. In fact, some have suggested that our obligation to need-blind aid actually limits our ability to support programs that recruit students of color.
As this tangled and difficult debate unfolds, it is critical that we all engage in rational and informed dialogue, while resisting the seductive call of simplistic and emotional answers.
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