ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990                   TAG: 9005170609
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


COLLEGES CUT STUDENT AID

With federal aid for student grants and loans down dramatically from levels of a decade ago, college administrators predict that fewer and fewer colleges will be able to guarantee financial aid to all the students they admit.

And at the nation's most selective colleges and universities, "need-blind" admissions policies - the practice of admitting students without regard to their ability to pay - are being re-examined.

The stakes are high, because less financial aid could mean that fewer poor, working-class and minority students will be able to attend elite colleges.

Earlier this year, Smith College quietly decided to stop admitting students without regard to their ability to pay. When the decision became public last week, it ricocheted through the world of higher education, touching off debate about how colleges can compensate for financial shortages without rejecting qualified students.

College administrators across the country said most schools shared Smith's dilemma, even if they have not chosen its solution. And it is difficult to tell whether other colleges are following Smith's course, because no one wants adverse publicity.

"Is Smith the tip of the iceberg? Yes," said Karl Furstenberg, dean of admissions and financial aid at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. In 1982, Wesleyan announced it would end need-blind admissions, but a successful fund-raising drive meant the policy never took effect.

Smith's decision to deny some students admission if the school cannot give them enough financial aid has also renewed a long-standing debate. Is it fairer to give students no money but the choice to attend and the opportunities provided by a prestigious college's degree, or does that create a group of second-class citizens, overburdened financially and set apart from their peers?

"The financial pressure is indeed shared by all of us, and we're all figuring out how to deal with it," said Nan Keohane, president of Wellesley College in Massachusetts, which has begun a five-year drive to raise $150 million.

Colleges that do not practice need-blind admissions say their decision does not necessarily mean less diversity, because only the marginally acceptable students are affected.

Beginning with next year's entering class, Smith will distribute a budgeted amount of aid to applicants, starting with the most desirable ones - many of whom will be students Smith wants precisely because they are poor or from minorities.

If the money runs out, students who rank lower on the acceptable list and need aid will not be admitted.

Instead, Smith's board of admissions decided Tuesday, those students will be sent a letter saying that they met Smith's qualifications but that the college cannot admit them because it has no money for them.

If Smith finds extra money later, or if the students can come up with more money on their own, the college will review their cases, said Mary Maples Dunn, Smith's president. She estimated that Smith would not be able to give financial aid to 5 percent to 10 percent of qualified students.

But Frank Burtnett, executive director of the National Association of College Admission Counselors, remains worried: "If part of the mission of an institution is to extend its diversity, on the other hand they are saying we won't be able to admit you if your need is too great."



 by CNB