Following the recent announcement of the College’s elimination of its need-blind admissions policy for international students, a group of students are organizing efforts to request that the College release statistical information to justify and explain the implementation of the policy. Interim dean of admissions and financial aid Paul Sunde wrote in an email to The Dartmouth that the policy came about because the international student population growth had been vastly outpacing the growth of the overall student body and the corresponding growth in financial aid for international students was not sustainable.
The admissions office will now consider international applicants’ financial need “as one of many factors” in the admissions process, College spokesperson Diana Lawrence wrote in an email to The Dartmouth last week.
The College began using a need-blind policy for international students with the Class of 2012. Financial aid for current international students will not be affected by this change.
Hassan Kiani ’16, one of the group’s organizers, said the groupcreated a sign-up spreadsheet online to divide up the task of requesting more information from the College and reaching out to media outlets to inform a wider audience — including alumni — of this change.
As of press time, more than 25 students have signed up to partake in the various actions.
Sunde wrote in an email to The Dartmouth that the number of international students at the College has increased by two-thirds, while the overall student population has only seen a five-percent increase.
During the same time, overall aid has grown by 100 percent, while international student aid has increased at double that rate. The shift to a need-aware policy constitutes an attempt to “address this imbalance,” Sunde wrote.
Sunde added that the College hopes to enroll a greater number international students, but can only do so by recruiting and admitting these students “in a strategic way.” He wrote that the College expects an increase in its overall scholarship budget, with relatively less aid going toward international students than to domestic ones.
Director of international student programs Stephen Silver declined comment, deferring comment to Lawrence.
A few students from the group met with College President Phil Hanlon during his office hours last weekand found the meeting to be constructive, though it raised additional unanswered questions,Kiani said.
After the conversation with Hanlon, Kiani said now the group has formulated more questions regarding the details of the relevant statistics and how the change will be implemented, though the group’s efforts are still mostly in the planning stages as it gathers more information regarding the policy shift.
“If the argument is about the dire needs of extra funds, why doesn’t the administration come out and be honest about it?” Kiana said. “Once we identify the problem, we can go ahead and address it as well.”
Another member of the effort, Orfeas Zormpalas ’16, said some of the involved students are drafting two petitions — one for the student body, another for faculty — to express concerns regarding the change.
Andrew Nalani ’16, another group member, said the fact that the administration did not release an official statement to campus regarding the change in policy and statistical reasoning behind this change concerned him.
“This information was not communicated in a way that it is clear and in a way that is accessible to the people it’s going to affect,” he added.
Zormpalas said he thinks that administrators have not adequately explained how this change will better foster diversity among the student body when the policy may discourage international students from low socioeconomic backgrounds from applying to the College.
Echoing Zormpalas’ sentiment, Kiani said another purpose of these concerted actions is to express the disapproval that students have regarding the change.
“The fact that you can have a diverse international student body, which is diverse economically as well — that made Dartmouth special,” he said. “And Dartmouth is going to lose that.”
Jeonghoon Lee ’16, who has signed up to participate in the group’s efforts, said that the need-aware policy undermines the missions and values that the Dartmouth community had been striving to uphold.
Lee said that he believes this change will negatively impact the College’s publicity and its national ranking as well. For these reasons, he said that the entire campus should engage with this policy change.
“How can Dartmouth say it supports diverse community when it makes the international students play on an unequal ground?” he said.
Clarification(October 4, 2015):
The emails Sunde sent clarifying the international admissions policy change were sent to The Dartmouth and were not publicly available. The students interviewed were responding to the public announcement of the policy, not the content of these emails. The story has been updated for clarification.
Correction (October 4, 2015):
This article originally stated that Kiani created the sign-up sheet that the group circulated. The sign-up sheet was the result of a group effort, not Kiani's individual actions. The story has been updated to reflect this.
This article also originally stated that the students who met with Hanlon during his office hours felt that his responses were not satisfactory. The story has been updated to read that the students felt that the meeting was constructive, though it raised additional unanswered questions.
The Dartmouth regrets these errors.
