Senate hears committee report on undergraduate admission, financial aid

Nicholas Bloom speaking to the Faculty Senate on Thursday (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

During the 2014-15 academic year, the Committee on Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid focused primarily on issues related to admission, including Stanford’s expanded financial aid program, the redesigned SAT test and efforts to entice more students interested in the humanities to come to the university.

Speaking to the Faculty Senate yesterday, Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics who served as chair of the committee last year, said the group met eight times – a higher-than-usual number of meetings for the committee.

“Even so, we felt pretty pushed for time,” he said, adding that the committee devoted only one meeting to financial aid, due to time constraints.

The committee is charged with establishing the standards and policies by which applicants for admission and applicants for financial aid are to be selected, and assuring itself that Stanford policies on undergraduate admission and financial aid are being executed.

Bloom said the committee didn’t have enough time or data to discuss the university’s admission priorities. However, he praised the Office of Admission and Financial Aid, saying it is extremely well organized, methodical and data driven.

To improve the committee’s ability to fulfill its charge, Bloom suggested ways to beef up the committee, including increasing the number of meetings – since it takes a couple meetings for new members to get up to speed – and increasing the chair’s term of service.

The full minutes of the Feb. 14 senate meeting will be available soon on the Faculty Senate website. The minutes will include the question-and-answer session that followed the presentation.