Williams College Ends Needs Blind Admissions Policy

Williams College, one of the top-ranked liberal arts schools in the US, decided this springto end its need-blind admissions program for international students. In a letter to the student body, Interim President Bill Wagner wrote that because of the school ‘changed financial situation’, they have had to review this policy.

He goes on to state that “…does not mean that the Financial Aid Office will compute the need of each international aid applicant and the Admission Office will then admit the most desirable international applicants until the aid runs out.”.

Instead what Willams will do is the following:

“The Admission Office will know which applicants have applied for aid, as it does now, but will not know the level of each applicant’s need. The office will then look at the international pool as a whole and aim to build an entering cohort that is not only academically strong but that is geographically and economically diverse and that in terms of aid approximates a rough dollar target that will begin where it is now and grow over the years at a rate slower than it has been. This new system should result in entering cohorts of international students that roughly resemble the one that we are blessed with now and at a rate of cost increase that is sustainable.”