Hampshire College: No Application Fee
Hampshire College recently announced that it has eliminated the application fee for its fall 2009 applicants. Karen Parker, director of admissions said about the change:
“Students typically apply to several colleges to ensure that they are admitted to and receive sufficient financial assistance to attend a college with the kind of educational programs and environment they seek,” said Parker. “The cost of multiple application fees causes some to limit their applications. It is important that we are accessible to all students who wish to apply.”
The decline of the US economy has made the prospect of college a more distant dream to millions of families in the United States and abroad. This move will give qualified college applicants with financial difficulties more of an opportunity and might potentially increase volume of incoming applications for the fall 2009 entry.
Hampshire is a small, private, ‘experimenting’ liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts known for its unique student-designed academic programs, progressive approach to education and scholarship (for the most part, the school does not administer grades, tests or record a GPA at all), and activism. It was the first college to divest from apartheid South Africa in 1979, was a very early opposer to the US government’s War on Terror and was the first to introduce a uniquely interdiscliplinary program in field of cognitive science.
Incidentally, I’m a first-year Division I student at Hampshire College and am currently writing this post from my dorm room. Here’s hoping other colleges with follow suit.
