January 2, 2008

Most Top Colleges Enroll Fewer Low-Income Students

Most of the nation’s top-ranking universities and liberal-arts colleges have seen both short- and long-term declines in the share of their students who come from low-income families, according to an analysis conducted by The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

The Journal’s findings echo the conclusions of a 2006 Chronicle analysis of data from colleges with endowments of $500-million or more. That study found that Pell Grant-eligible students were much less represented on such campuses than might be expected given their share of the population.

Of the 30 prestigious universities examined by the Journal, 20 saw a decline from 1983 to 2006 in the percentage of their students receiving need-based federal Pell Grants. The short-term trend was even more unfavorable, with 27 of 30 showing a decline in the share of their students with Pell Grants.

Low-income students fared only marginally better at the 30 prestigious liberal-arts colleges examined by the Journal. Only a third of those colleges had increased the share of students who were low-income from 1983 to 2006, and all but four had experienced declines in their low-income enrollments in the 2004-6 period.

Some institutions saw declines in their low-income enrollments even after pumping large sums of money into new programs geared toward the needy. “Contrary to what one might expect, it appears that there is no strong correlation between the generous new fiscal measures and success in bringing low-income students to the campus,” the Journal found. “The only sure conclusion is that money alone will not do the job.” —Peter Schmidt

Comments

1. Big secret: Pell grants, while wonderful, are a drop in the bucket to a student facing a $35-45,000 bill.

   Tuition increases do have a dark side to them if they force low income students to take on $18,000 in debt. Any student’s starting salary would not permit that much debt to be paid, assuming at least $5000 of startup expenses for a new life.

   — Financial Aid Alum    Jan 3, 06:38 AM    #

2. Yes, this thing called life is difficult. As a large-scale financial aid recipient I was grateful for the chance to start a new life with degrees. I am still grateful for having that chance through financial aid, even if a bit annoyed at the prospect of paying back the aid over the next 30 years. Goodbye chance to get a mortgage anytime soon! But at least I have professional employment, for which one needs a degree or two.

   — NS    Jan 3, 09:38 AM    #

3. Whoa is me again? There is this thing called working…I received pell grants, worked, and accummulated loans to achieve my undergrad degree. It took me longer than some of my parent-paying friends, but it was my achievement not my entitlement.

   — JS    Jan 3, 10:14 AM    #

4. These findings are not surprising. It is not only the size of the Pell grant that is important, but how colleges complement the grants with their own aid and academic intervention programs. Ten years ago, I found that Pell grants and institutional aid were inversely related in too many cases. See http://publius.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/1/115. This is not entirely institutions’ fault, however, as Congress has never chosen fiscal mechanisms to try to make such efforts work better together, and has never given intervention programs the emphasis they deserve.

   — Jon Oberg    Jan 3, 10:35 AM    #

5. The cost of education has reached absurd proportions and is only getting worse. If you can’t get funding (i.e tuition waivers) from your department, you more or less are saddled with a lifetime of debt.

   I worked two jobs while to pay for the education my field requires and living expenses for my family and I (BA and 2 MA’s) and still have the equivalent of a healthy home mortgage that will haunt me for the next 30 years.

   And all that to find a job that pays only slightly more than a year job and the prospect of an ever shrinking job pool.

   — GJ    Jan 3, 11:04 AM    #

6. It’s always misleading to judge the state of higher education by looking at what is going on in the “top 30” universities and liberal arts colleges (not being certain of the criteria for “topness”). Most of these universities and colleges are extreme outliers in terms of the cost of education. Many of them try very hard, nevertheless, to keep the price low enough to maintain access for lower SES students. But they are still pretty expensive. Fortunately, there are many many very good public community colleges and universities in the US where students can get a first rate educationfor a reasonable amount of money. In fact, most students go to these types of institutions and wind up doing very well in their professional, civic, and personal lives. And they can graduate without enormous debt.

   — Dave    Jan 3, 12:47 PM    #

7. I’d love a Bentley, but I can’t afford one. Ergo, I bought a Toyota.

   It’s a neat thing called the free market.

   I’m “shocked! shocked!” to find high prices at elite institutions!

   What a non-story.

   — Pat    Jan 3, 02:06 PM    #

8. How can you lead the FREE WORLD Barack Obama when your health care and education cost a hell of a lot?

   — THE REAL PRESIDENT    Jan 3, 06:36 PM    #

9. I’m glad to see that The Real President reads The Chronicle…

   George, sickness and ignorance cost this country far more than health care and education.

   — Comm Prof    Jan 4, 01:27 AM    #

10. I’ve always found it rather amusing when an absurdly overpriced ($35,000/per year +) undergrad institution claims it is committed to helping poor students. This to me is analogous to Marie Antoinette building her cottage in the country and pretending to be a shepherdess and understand the needs of the French peasants.

    — Mark Smith    Jan 5, 01:34 AM    #

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