A Summary of Committee Proposals

SEVENTEEN specific recommendations submitted to the Trustees Planning Committee by its Subcommittee on Admissions and Financial Aid were approved fully or in principle by TPC and the Board of Trustees. These proposals, constituting the heart of the report, are briefly summarized:

1. In line with its central conclusion that Dartmouth's chief admissions problem is one of attraction rather than selection, and that the key to getting more outstanding boys is the repute of the faculty, the Subcommittee urged the strengthening of certain existing faculty policies and the adoption of several new ones. Thus, it recommended that serious consideration be given to attracting distinguished professors of national reputation for the purpose of improving the faculty's drawing power. It commended the College for the new Faculty Fellowship program but suggested that means be found to allow for more individual scholarly work and research, more opportunities for teaching advanced seminars in fields of special interest, and for the introduction of small and select graduate programs in some disciplines.

2. The Subcommittee expressed the belief that increased faculty participation would improve the College's student recruitment activities, and proposed visits to public and private schools by members of the Dartmouth faculty, teaching exchanges with secondary schools, faculty participation in summer programs and conferences held in Hanover for outstanding secondary school teachers from all over the country, and more correspondence by faculty members with high school and private school advisers or teachers in their areas of specialization.

3. In order to maintain a desirable balance and diversity in the student body, the Subcommittee recommended the continuation of annual, informal appraisals of each class. It recommended that there be no specific proportions for special groups, such as geographic or school groups; rather that there be a general evaluation of the quality and make-up of the then current student body.

4. The Subcommittee recommended that larger numbers of qualified candidates from rural areas be encouraged and that recruitment activity in such areas be accelerated.

5. It was recommended that the recruiting activities of all those engaged in Dartmouth's enrollment work, including the activities of the athletic coaches, be generally supervised and coordinated by the Admissions Office.

6. The Subcommittee recommended that the College review its policy and procedures with regard to transfer students. Specifically it proposed elimination of the formal application system for transfer students, who might be admitted informally after the selection of each new freshman class, and suggested that the College look to the junior colleges as a possible source of talented students.

7. It was recommended that a program of granting advanced standing [in effect at Dartmouth since September 1960] be fully utilized as a means of attracting particularly able secondary school students.

8. The Subcommittee urged a review of all the printed materials now going out to prospective students, schools, and alumni engaged in enrollment work. It proposed that the admissions and financial aid officers assume more positive control over these publications, that increased space and emphasis be given to the academic program of the College, and that more information be offered about the attractive possibilities of undergraduate work in the associated schools of medicine, engineering and business administration.

9. Turning to financial aid, the Subcommittee strongly approved continuation of the present primary criterion of demonstrated need in the College's awarding of financial aid.

10. Looking ahead to steady improvement in the quality of applicants as enrollment activity grows, the Subcommittee foresaw the need of more scholarship funds to support the greater number of desirable needy students who would be attracted. It therefore recommended that the Trustees give serious consideration to the possibility of expanding the scholarship fund by means of additional special gifts earmarked for this purpose, so that the general funds of the College now used for financial aid can be increasingly devoted to other purposes.

11. It was recommended that loans be a major source for meeting higher tuition charges, and that consideration be given to increasing the College's present loan limit of $2500 for four undergraduate years.

12. It was proposed that the College consider adoption of a "forgiveness" program whereby students entering and remaining in the low-paying service professions might have a large part of their loans cancelled, and whereby foreign students might have their loans forgiven when they returned to serve in their native lands.

13. The Subcommittee recommended that in the future all student employment be administered by the Office of Financial Aid, in order that the coordinated use of scholarships, loans, and jobs might be carried out most effectively to aid needy students.

14. The Subcommittee approved the principle of "interdependence" between admissions decisions and financial aid decisions.

15. It was urged that constant attention be given to personnel and space needs in order that operations of the Admissions and Financial Aid Offices will not suffer. The greatest single need in personnel, the committee suggested, is increased manpower to permit more school visits and more contact with college advisers in the schools.

16. The Subcommittee recommended that a two-year research program be undertaken by Dartmouth, and outside funds be sought for the purpose, in an attempt to find the answers to a variety of immediate and long-range admissions questions.

17. It was recommended that the Committee on Admissions and the Freshman Year be combined with the Committee on Scholarships and Loans to form a new Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid. This new committee was viewed as one to make policy recommendations and to review exceptional and difficult cases, not as one to usurp decision-making authority or to get involved in administration.