The Committee met on October 2 in the Rosenfield Center with most members present.

Following introductions, especially of new members, future agenda items for the 06-07 academic year were considered.

Sumner passed out various background info, pieces, especially for new Committee members.
Sumner clarified that the College spent approximately $1.2 M in merit scholarship assistance for new 06 students vs. the approximately $1.8 M that would have been spent if the merit scholarship criteria had not been raised appreciably.

The Committee then talked at some length with the 4 faculty and staff members who serve as Posse Mentors. Of the 6 Posses (62 students) who chose the College, the Committee learned than 88% are still enrolled. Other observations made by the Mentors included the fact that some students had been away from math too long when the enrolled at GC, that strong writing skills remain a problem, that students are surprised by the heavy academic work load, that LA Posse III has 6 of 10 students currently enrolled (lack of academic prep is not the biggest problem with this Posse), and that science and quantitative skills are sometimes lacking.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:10 PM.

Meeting Schedule: Due to absence from campus, the Committee will not meet on Mon., Nov. 6 as originally planned; we will meet at noon on Mon, Nov. 20, 2 weeks later than planned (location t.b.a.). We will then plan to meet in Dec as originally planned.

November Meeting Agenda; our primary agenda item will be a financial aid and scholarship tutorial. We will also discuss staff changes in the Office of Admission and the current status of the annual admission cycle.

Jim Sumner
Dean of Admission & Financial Aid
Grinnell College