October
8, 2004
Kathy
Blaisdell Joins MHC as Financial Assistance Director
Photo: Todd M. LeMieux
Kathy Blaisdell |
This past August, Mount Holyoke welcomed Kathy
Blaisdell as its new director of financial assistance. Blaisdell
came to MHC from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, where she worked for 17 years, first in admission
and for the past seven years as senior associate director in
the Office of Financial Assistance. She began working in admission
at her alma mater, Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Blaisdell credits the staff in financial assistance
for a smooth transition into her new job. “I'm blessed with a wonderful staff who know exactly what's
going on and what needs to be done,” she said. In addition to the perennial
goal of meeting the financial needs of the students the College wants to enroll
within the financial aid budget, Blaisdell sees her office’s biggest challenge
as maintaining a high level of customer service. “The world is changing.
There is a greater expectation for families to get away from the phone and
paper and manage their applications online, and we want to keep up with that.”
Financial assistance at Mount Holyoke is more
important than ever, Blaisdell said. Not only have tuition costs
outpaced inflation for the past 20 years or more, but also Mount
Holyoke provides some form of assistance to close to 70 percent
of its students, a higher percentage than many of MHC’s peer institutions.
Blaisdell explained, “What is unusual for Mount Holyoke—compared
to other colleges—is the strength of its commitment to access for students
of different socioeconomic backgrounds, which means that we have more students
with financial need that we want to meet, not just domestic students but international
students as well. We have a wonderfully international campus, and many of our
students come from financially depressed parts of the world.” Blaisdell’s
office also handles financial assistance for nontraditional-age students in the
Frances Perkins program.
Blaisdell said she was eager to come to Mount
Holyoke because its financial assistance office works within
a larger, holistic system of enrollment management. “At
so many places, enrollment consists only of admission and financial assistance.
But here, enrollment includes the CDC, communications, registrar, Frances Perkins,
and institutional research,” Blaisdell said. “It’s progressive
and exciting; it opens up possibilities for how effective enrollment management
can be.”
“We are delighted that Kathy has joined us at Mount Holyoke,” said
Jane Brown, vice president for enrollment and college relations. “She brings
with her an outstanding professional portfolio and a reputation as a smart, strategic
thinker with a collaborative managerial style. I look forward to working with
Kathy as we continue our commitment to making a Mount Holyoke education affordable
for our students and their families.”
Blaisdell lives in South Hadley with her husband
Ted, an educator, and their daughters, Emma and Phoebe, ages
ten and seven.
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