Indiana Schools Appear on Economic Diversity List
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThree colleges in the state are on a national list recognizing the economic diversity of their student populations. The New York Times considered factors including the share of freshmen receiving federal Pell grants and the new price for students from low and middle-income families. The list only includes schools with four-year graduation rates of 75 percent or higher during the 2011-2012 academic year.
The Indiana institutions in the state are:
St. Mary's College
University of Notre Dame
DePauw University
Source: The New York Times
September 9, 2014
News Release
GREENCASTLE, Ind. – A New York Times analysis of American higher education finds that DePauw University is among the nation's most economically diverse colleges.
For the report by David Leonhardt, which appears in today's editions, the Times “analyzed data for every college with a four-year graduation rate of at least 75 percent. We combined data on enrollment and tuition costs to measure how hard each college is trying to attract and graduate poor and middle-class students. The result is our College Access Index.”
The analysis found that 21 percent of DePauw students received Pell grants between 2012-14, up 5 percent from 2008 and that the endowment per student was $210,000. DePauw's College Access Index score was 1.2, the same as M.I.T, Wellesley, Wheaton, Occidental and Haverford (see full list here).
Leonhardt writes, “Over the last decade, dozens of colleges have proclaimed that recruiting a more economically diverse student body was a top priority. Many of those colleges have not matched their words with actions. But some have. These colleges have changed policies and made compromises elsewhere to recruit the kind of talented poor students who have traditionally excelled in high school but not gone to top colleges. A surprising number of such students never graduate from any college.”
He adds, “This education gap is a problem not only for the teenagers on the wrong end of it. It’s a problem for the American economy. The economic differences between college graduates and everyone else have reached record levels. Yet for many low-income children – even many who get A's in high school and do well on the SAT – college remains out of reach. LGL 9277No wonder that upward mobility is less common in the United States than in many other rich countries.”
Source: DePauw University