In an unfortunate sign of our current economic times, Reed College has found itself forced to turn away several needy students. According to an article in the New York Times, the admission team completed the difficult process of determining which students were the most worthy of acceptance – only to learn later that too many of the worthy students were in need of financial assistance. As a result, the director of financial aid was forced to order the admissions team to replace 100 needy students with students who are able to pay the full tuition costs on their own.

Reed College, which is a small private school locate in Portland, Oregon, has found itself in the same situation as many colleges and universities around the country – their endowments have been simply ravaged by the downturn of the financial markets. As a result, the school has had to implement a number of different changes, including changes in tuition costs, staffing, class offerings and, of course, who the school can and cannot financially support.

So far, Reed has been attempting to make those changes that will have the least amount of impact on its students and on its program offerings. Furthermore, the college is hoping it will be able to “ride the wave” for a bit longer until the recession is over and, hopefully, things begin to resume some level of normalcy.

Colin Diver, who is the president of Reed, is attempting to look at the bright side by saying he hopes the current economic crunch will help colleges and universities get back to the basics of education.

“The catering to consumer tastes – I keep trying to say, we are in the education business.” Diver stated in response to the fact that so many colleges and universities have focused more on adding “country club” facilities rather than focusing on the quality of education. “The whole principle behind higher education is, we know something that you don’t. Therefore, we shouldn’t cater to them.”

Still, the fact that the school’s endowments are decreasing and the fact that so many students are in need has made it difficult for Reed to accept all those students who are worthy of admission. This year along, for example, the college saw a 23% increase in the number of freshmen requesting financial aid. Furthermore, twice as many students made a financial aid appeal this year when compared to last year. As a result, the financial aid department has had to implement some very stringent guidelines when it comes to determining who qualifies for assistance.

Other changes that Reed has had to make include:

· Increasing tuition costs and fees, resulting in the total cost of attending the school for one year to $49,950
· Increasing the number of students accepted to the school, with the numbers increasing to 400 new students this year compare to 355 last year
· Increasing its financial aid budget by 7.8%
· Cutting spending by 5%, except for personnel costs
· Leaving open vacancies unfilled

Fortunately, the school has managed to avoid layoffs and hopes to keep it that way. But, if the economy does not improve, the school will find itself facing the same issues this time next year.

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