Jeremy Diamond of the GW Hatchet published an explosive report yesterday about admissions and financial aid policy at the school.

GW misrepresented admissions and financial aid policy for years

The University admitted publicly for the first time Friday that it puts hundreds of undergraduate applicants on its waitlist each year because they cannot pay GW’s tuition.

Administrators now say the admissions process has always factored in financial need. But that contradicts messaging from the admissions and financial aid offices that, as recently as Saturday, have regularly attested that the University remained need-blind.

Students who meet GW’s admissions standards, but are not among the top applicants, can shift from “admitted” to “waitlisted” if they need more financial support from GW. These decisions affect up to 10 percent of GW’s roughly 22,000 applicants each year, said Laurie Koehler, the newly hired associate provost for enrollment management.

Admissions representatives do not consider financial need during the first round of reading applications. But before applicants are notified, the University examines its financial aid budget and decides which students it can actually afford to admit.

Without knowing, wealthier students who were slated to land on the waitlist are accepted, taking the spots of students who would need more financial aid from GW.

The quiet move away from declaring a “need-blind” policy came to light during an interview Friday with Koehler, who began reshaping practices of both the admissions and financial aid offices this summer.

But as recently as Saturday, admissions representatives told prospective students in an information session that their applications would be judged without glancing at their financial aid profiles. And until it was removed Saturday evening, the undergraduate admissions website read, “Requests for financial aid do not affect admissions decisions.” That webpage now explains GW’s “need-aware” policy.

Zakaree Harris, who reviewed applications at GW as assistant director of undergraduate admissions from 2007 to 2010, said he knew that senior admissions officials reviewed applications after he and his colleagues selected their choice of applicants. But he said he never knew that those officials weighed financial aid.