Skidmore was the subject of a recent feature in Time Magazine penned by Highed Ed. columnist Laura Fitzpatrick. The article (which you can read here) follows the application process and pays particular attention to the new demand for financial aid as more and more families are finding themselves yoked by financial insecurity–62% of the applicants for the class of 2013 requested financial aid, a new record.

Skidmore’s applications tumbled almost 14% this spring, in line with plunges at seven of the country’s top eight liberal-arts colleges and many others down the food chain. Skidmore’s projected $51,196-a-year price tag makes it one of the nation’s 10 most expensive schools, but its $223 million endowment–down 23% from its high about a year ago–is too small to bankroll financial aid for all who need it.

The article offers some interesting insight to the applications process and hints that this year’s waitlist is about 100 students long. Students who fail to show an intense interest in the college through visits and (pointless) website perusing can also expect their chances of acceptance to slide. Fitzpatrick ends the article on a fully deserved sour note pointing out that at a school like Skidmore financial aid unfortunately strangles diversity:

[S]tudents of color, who disproportionately applied for financial aid, made up a higher percentage of this year’s applicant pool than last year’s. But reflecting “the demands of financial aid,” says Bates, they make up only 24% of the admitted pool this year, in contrast to 28% last year. “You’ve always been in an advantaged position to be rich and smart,” says Morton Schapiro, a higher-education economist and the president of Williams College, which does not consider financial need in admissions. “Now you’re at an even greater advantage.” If so, then you can chalk up one more casualty of the financial crisis: diversity on campus.