Survey shows colleges failing to attract low-income students
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The nation's wealthiest colleges collectively have failed since 2004 to significantly boost low-income enrollment, and more than half saw declines, including the main campuses of Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh, a survey says.
The Chronicle of Higher Education findings published this week show that low-income students as defined by those receiving federal Pell Grants remained largely flat as a share of undergraduates on those campuses, at just under 15 percent. The maxiumum grant for this school year is $5,500.
The Chronicle looked at campuses with the 50 largest endowments, a group that includes Ivy League schools, other elite private colleges and a number of flagship public universities.
The Chronicle said Pell numbers remained generally static, even though the schools, facing public pressure this past decade to boost low-income enrollment, had added millions of dollars to their financial aid budgets and undertaken initiatives to attract those students.
The lackluster results are likely to rekindle debate about what's to blame -- too little federal financial aid for the poor, inadequate preparation of students in poorer school districts or admissions decisions by colleges bent on building their prestige.
Eighteen campuses saw Pell Grant recipient gains between 2004-05 and 2008-09, the most current year with available national data.
Notable among them was a 4.4 percentage point increase at Williams College, where Pell recipients as of 2008-09 totaled 321, or 14.9 percent of undergraduates. The University of Richmond, a school with relatively few Pell students compared to other wealthy schools, saw a 3.3 percentage point increase, bringing its Pell enrollment total to 351, or 8.8 percent of undergraduates.
Thirty-one other universities saw declines, while one school, Grinnell College, saw no change, according to The Chronicle, which used data from the federal government and colleges.
On Pitt's main campus, Pell recipients declined from 3,572 in 2004-05 to 2,815 in 2008-09, The Chronicle said. Those recipients as a share of main campus undergraduates slipped by 3.1 percentage points from 16.1 percent in 2004-05 to 13 percent in 2008-09.
First Published March 29, 2011 12:00 am
