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amilton College welcomed new students earlier this month when 45 January admits and six transfer students arrived on College Hill. Though their paths to Hamilton were slightly unconventional, January admits, once on the Hill, are treated just like any other students, as they are eligible to participate in the whole gamut of campus activities, and even to study abroad again, if they wish. Many participate in varsity athletics, Student Assembly, and orientation trips. But until they are offered admission, January admits are treated differently.

January admits — or simply, Jans — are students accepted into Hamilton College but invited to join their class (in this case, the Class of 2021) beginning in the spring, rather than fall, semester. The program is designed so that most Jans spend their fall semester studying in London, enrolled through Arcadia University’s study abroad program, and then transfer these credits to Hamilton allowing them to graduate on-time with their class. This year, 35 Hamilton students participated in the London program, while ten students worked, traveled, or chose to pursue other kinds of educational opportunities.

Hamilton is not alone in its practice of enrolling a large cohort of students each winter. According to a 2013

New York Times

article exploring similar deferred-enrollment programs at institutions like Middlebury College, Skidmore College, and Brandeis University, colleges that have these programs “are motivated by the same basic arithmetic: between freshman-year attrition and junior-year abroad programs, campus populations drop off after the first few months of college each year.” By perennially filling these otherwise empty beds with January admits, administrators are able to maximize their college’s revenue.

Unlike other domestic, first-year applicants to the College — all of which are considered on a “need-blind” basis, meaning that a family’s financial situation does not play a factor in a student’s admission decision — Hamilton remains need-aware for January admits and transfers. This policy gives administrators the power to choose students partially based upon financial situation, effectively damaging the prospects of students whose families cannot pay full tuition, room and board, and fees attendance; such fees currently total $66,170.

Even though the College pledges to meet 100 percent of each student’s demonstrated financial need, first-semester Jans that study in London are ineligible for aid because their first-semester enrollment is technically through Arcadia University and not Hamilton College.

This, however, contrasts with Hamilton’s website, which claims that “Hamilton is need-blind for first-year domestic applicants, meaning a U.S. student’s financial need will not be a factor in the admission decision,” as January admits are, in fact, initially first-year domestic applicants.

For this reason, according to Monica Inzer, Vice President of Enrollment Management, maintaining need-sensitivity and wareness in January admissions is necessary, because the College doesn’t want to “[admit] students for an option and program that they might not be able to participate in because of family finances.” Doing so would likely decrease Hamilton’s yield rate, which necessarily increases its acceptance rate, making Hamilton appear less prestigious compared to other colleges.

Further, since Jans do not enroll until the winter, they are not included in class profile statistics on Hamilton’s website. As such, these statistics make the student body appear more culturally diverse than it actually is. Although 36 percent of the Class of 2021 identify as students of color or international students (many of which are Canadian), only 15 percent of this year’s Jans identify similarly; 72 percent identify as white.

Last year,

The Spectator

reported that the Class of 2021 was the “most diverse [class] in Hamilton history.” Inzer acknowledges that “[w]hile the [January admits] composite does not mirror the overall student body statistics, we’re getting closer,” suggesting that in past years the Jans have been even less diverse than they are now.

When the College adopted its need-blind policy in 2010, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, A.G. Lafley, said that “[p]rotecting our legacy as a school of opportunity is our highest priority.”

In the same story, published on the Hamilton College website, Inzer echoed a similar sentiment, adding that not only does Hamilton have a “long tradition of providing scholarship aid for those who would otherwise be unable to afford a Hamilton education,” but that she was “very proud to be at Hamilton at this moment in time when we are able to align our admission practices with our mission as a school committed to access and opportunity.”

Even Joan Hinde Stewart, President of the College at the time, championed the policy change as necessary to “reaffirm” the College’s “historic mission” as a “school of opportunity and transformation.”

One possible solution to the overwhelmingly affluent and rich nature of January admits would be to start a Hamilton in London program, akin to the College’s current programs in France, China, India, Spain, New York, Washington, D.C., and the Adirondacks. Under the program, first-years would spend their fall semesters in London enrolled through Hamilton and would therefore be eligible for institutional, need-based aid. This would bring down the cost of attendance for many families and make the Jan experience accessible to more prospective students, alleviating Inzer’s concern that the London program may be cost-prohibitive.

Sponsoring its own London abroad program would certainly be expensive for Hamilton, but that’s kind of the point. The College’s decision in 2010 to go need-blind for all other students was expensive, too, but it expanded opportunity for thousands of future students.

The idea is certainly not far-fetched. According to the College’s strategic plan, released on Oct. 5, 2017, college administrators are considering starting a Silicon Valley program within the next five years aimed at helping students develop digital fluency skills. Why not instead invest the money into making an accessible, tech-focused program in London?

Under the new program, Hamilton would accomplish a number of goals. First, the College would make the Jan program more accessible to freshmen while at the same time laying down the roots for the new digital fluency requirement. Second, the College would gain flexibility in how to structure the first-year Jan curriculum, which they currently surrender to Arcadia University, while also creating the option of offering joint courses taken by Jans and upperclassmen together, which could potentially help to integrate Jans into the Hamilton community before they arrive in the winter.

The program would also expand Hamilton’s international reach and grow the College’s reputation on a global scale. While students may not associate London with the tech industry, it’s actually home to the hottest tech sector in all of Europe. In 2017, London tech startups pulled in over $3.4 billion in venture capital funding, which exceeds Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Madrid, Amsterdam, Dublin, Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Lisbon — combined.

Although the College’s website says that “Hamilton has a well-earned reputation as a school of opportunity and is need-blind in its admission decisions,” such a representation is clearly not applied uniformly.

Amending the January admission program, as laid out above, would not be a cure-all, but it would bring Hamilton one step closer to truly being a school of opportunity for everyone.