<p>This surprises me as well considering the Oberlin College community has been having serious concerns about trying to improve their diversity when I was there in the mid-late 1990’s. Didn’t help when they did away with need-blind admissions not too long after I was admitted which did have a noticeable effect on student quality and diversity for a few years. Several younger classmates later complained that as a result of cutting need-blind admissions, Oberlin admitted more well-off but marginal White students whose parents paid full-freight which ended up forcing the dumbing down of many intermediate and some advanced courses because they ended up having to go material from the intro courses. </p>
<p>One scholarship classmate in particular was incensed when a 300 level course ended up mostly reviewing 100 level material because so many of those marginal full-pay students either weren’t able to/never bothered to learn the 100-level material properly when they took it. Fortunately, I heard this phenomenon only lasted a few years before Oberlin again was deluged with applications from a more diversified pool of academic achievers. </p>
<p>Hopefully with the greater alumni donation drives over the last few years, more money for scholarships and need-based aid can be given.</p>