Dean of Financial Aid
Amherst College
Amherst,
MA
Biographical Sketch: Gail Holt is Dean of Financial Aid at Amherst College. She provides strategic direction and leadership for Amherst’s comprehensive, fully need-based financial aid program, meeting 100% of calculated need without loan. Amherst College is "need blind" for all students — applying for financial aid will have no bearing on the admission application process.
Holt has more than two and a half decades of financial aid experience and is a past member of the College Board’s Board of Trustees and past chair of the College Board’s CSS/Financial Assistance Assembly Council. She is also a past president of the Massachusetts Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (MASFAA), from which she received the Charles Sheehan Distinguished Service Award. Holt has helped to advance the financial aid profession by contributing to a variety of professional development programs including, serving as a faculty member for the College Board Financial Aid Institute, conference chair and state representative for the Eastern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (EASFAA) and statewide coordinator for FAFSA Day.
Holt is a graduate of Boston College and earned her master’s degree from Boston University.