An Aug. 13 post on NYU Abu Dhabi’s Room of Requirement, a popular internal university forum for frequently asked questions, brought to attention that NYUAD’s website no longer explicitly says that admissions is need blind.

A web archive of the undergraduate financial support page shows that there used to be a line in bold purple with the following text: “Admission to NYU Abu Dhabi is need-blind: Admissions decisions are made without knowledge of a student's financial need.”

When a university has a need blind policy for admissions, it means that applicants are judged solely on their own merits, irrespective of their ability to pay for tuition. According to U.S. news: “Only five U.S. colleges — Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University in Massachusetts, Princeton University in New Jersey and Amherst College in Massachusetts — offer need-blind admission as well as full-need financial aid to all students, including international applicants.”

The seeming discrepancy was first noticed and discussed widely among NYUAD applicant group chats, causing confusion and fear as to whether the university will be need aware going forward, starting from the 2021-22 application cycle.

The Gazelle reached out to the Director of Admissions at NYUAD to clarify this discrepancy. “The change you point out was part of an effort to align language across all three NYU degree granting campuses and does not indicate any change to the way we review applications for admission,” clarified Director of Admissions Amy Kice.

“NYU Abu Dhabi continues to be need blind in admissions and meets the full demonstrated need of admitted applicants,” she added.