<p>I find the whole discussion of whether a school commits too/continues a policy of “need blind” fascinating; it must be a real challenge for the Boards of Trustees. Essential to the discussion is that available budget money decreased dramatically with the collapse of the financial market, because all of the big schools were very reliant on their endowments. Thus, remaining need blind goes hand in hand with reducing program expenditures, and easing up on need blind means protecting the product. There’s got to be some concern about compromising the educational product, and thus compromising the brand.</p>