Seeing the Light: Haverford Ends Needs-Blind Admission Amid Fraught Economic Environment

Incremental approach could lead to bigger doses of tough love.
By John Sandman ,

In 2007, Haverford College began its "no loan" pledge, promising that students who attend this competitive liberal arts college located in a tony Philadelphia suburb would never forced to go into debt.

The school gave in on "no loans" six years later, when the loan prohibition was limited to students from families earning less than $60,000 a year--a minority among Haverford students.

When the policy became official, then-President Daniel Weiss wrote in a December 8, 2014 campus-wide email, "Haverford will remain needs-blind in our admissions process," adding that "Our financial aid programs should support our mission of admitting the best students to Haverford, regardless of their ability to pay, making a Haverford education accessible and affordable to those students." However, Dean of Admissions Jess Lord also noted, "The demographics are clear. The college-going population is going to be ever needier. Our financial aid budget will continue to grow significantly."

Two years later, in the aftermath of the Great Recession, needs-blind admissions seems to be going the way of debt the school's "no loan" pledge.

The changes will be felt, for the time being, by people who are on the cusp of admission or rejection. The school says it will continue to judge students according to the strength of their applications, not their ability to pay. But the lowest-performing 5%--roughly a dozen out of a hypothetical class of 350--will get in because don't depend on money from the school.

In a post-commencement message to the school this spring, President Kim Bentsen noted that faith in needs-blind admissions "is based equally on blind faith—namely that we will never fall short in our ability to make ends meet—for ourselves, now and in perpetuity." But Bentson also echoed Lord's concerns of two years ago—that demographics, broke students, rising costs and the fallout from the Great Recession will be a big influence. Maintaining diversity was already challenging; only 15% of Haverford's 2015 grads were Pell Grant recipients.

Haverford's endowment has actually recovered in recent years, but it is off pre-Great Recession highs, having dropped from $521 million in June of 2008 to $375 million six months later. In May of 2013 it was at $433 million and reached $490 million in the spring of 2014; the current number is $495 million.

The National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) put Haverford's endowment at 177 out the 828 schools it ranked. But it has been blown away by numerous public universities, such as the University of Texas System, number 3 on the NACUBO list, The Texas A&M University System and Foundation (7) and the University of Michigan (10). The Haverford student headcount is a fraction of these giant public universities with their economies of scale. Haverford peer and fellow Philly school Swarthmore ranks 49; Amherst ranks 41 and Williams College 35.

Haverford officials hedged on whether there was no turning back from the end of needs blind admissions, and allowed that during some years an entire class could be selected without taking a student's family income into account.

Perhaps with a view toward improving its balance sheet and cash flow, the school said it will increase the class size of by about seven students a year for the time being. There are concerns that even this incremental approach could have an impact on Haverford's profile, where faculty-student interaction—and small class size—are a hallmark.

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