College Admissions Counseling Blog

Vassar College has announced that they will be need blind for all freshman admissions. Vassar was need blind until 10 years ago when they went to a need aware policy for some freshman admissions.

For those people confused by the difference, a need blind college makes all of their admissions decisions regardless of the financial circumstances of the applicant. In other words, it doesn't matter whether you apply for financial aid, you will be considered equally with all other applicants. A need aware college admits most students without regard to their financial aid status. However, a certain percentage of students will have their financial aid status considered when the college decides which students to admit. Typically this meant that if you were one of the last students to be considered by the college, you might not be admitted simply because you had a need for financial aid. At Vassar, this usually meant about 2% of students were admitted giving consideration to their financial aid status. Colleges use a need aware aid policy to save money in their limited financial aid budget. While it is understandable why a college would use their limited resources in this manner, it is unfortunate that the ability to pay for a college is considered in the admissions process.

We applaud Vassar for returning to a need blind admission policy. This is a great way to ensure that the best students are being admitted to a college.