Pavilion VIII at the Lawn of the University of Virginia. (Photo by Karen Blaha via Wikimedia Commons)
THREE UNIVERSITIES recently have joined
the ranks of schools seeking to make college more affordable by offering expanded aid to middle-income students:
Rice University in Houston has
unveiled The Rice Investment, a new
initiative that will award full-tuition
scholarships to degree-seeking undergraduates with family incomes of between US$65,000 and $130,000 who are
eligible to receive need-based financial
aid. In addition, students with family incomes between $130,000 and $200,000
are eligible to receive scholarships
covering at least half of their tuition.
Support for students from low-income
families also will be significantly enhanced under the program, and students
with family incomes below $65,000 will
receive grant aid covering not only their
full tuition, but also all of their mandatory fees and room and board. The plan
takes effect this fall.
The Rice Investment also will reduce
the burden of student debt. Degree-seeking undergraduate students from families
with incomes up to $200,000 who qualify
for The Rice Investment will no longer
be required to take out loans, but instead
will receive scholarships and grants. Students who receive financial aid still will be expected to contribute toward the cost
of attendance through moderate earnings
from summer and academic year jobs.
The university is undertaking a $150
million fundraising campaign to support
the program. “This bold step reflects our
founding principles,” says Rice president
David Leebron. “When Rice opened its
doors in 1912, we didn’t charge tuition.
Rice changed its charter in 1965 to begin
charging tuition, but immediately began
offering scholarships to eligible students.
This significantly builds on that legacy
and on our commitment to make a Rice
education accessible and affordable for
students from all backgrounds.”
The University of Virginia in Charlottesville also is promising to make
tuition free or significantly lower for
low- and middle-income students. New
university president Jim Ryan made
that pledge during his October 2018
inauguration speech, as reported in the
school’s newspaper, The Cavalier Daily.
Ryan said that Virginia students
whose families earn less than $80,000
and have “typical assets” will be able
to attend the school tuition-free.
Those whose families earn less than
$30,000 also will be eligible for free
room and board.
In his speech, Ryan said, “I see a
community that opens wide the door to
opportunity for first-generation, low-,
and middle-income students. There is
more work to be done in this space, but
we might as well get started.”
Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Maryland, has received a
$1.8 billion commitment from businessman and former New York City
mayor Michael Bloomberg to be used
exclusively to provide financial aid to
undergraduate students.
The donation enables the school to
become permanently “need-blind” with
regard to admissions; to offer financial aid packages that do not include
loans, which will reduce student debt;
to reduce family contributions for lowand middle-income families; to provide
comprehensive student support for
first-generation and low-income families; and to increase the enrollment of
students eligible for Pell Grants. These
adjustments will be effective with the
fall 2019 semester. In addition, the university will implement an extensive outreach and recruitment program to reach
academically qualified students from
middle- and low-income backgrounds.
“College is a great leveler,” Bloomberg
writes in a November 19, 2018, op-ed in
The New York Times explaining why he
made the donation. “Multiple studies
have shown that students who attend
selective colleges—no matter what
their family’s background—have similar
earnings after graduation. But too many
qualified kids from low- and middle-income families are being shut out.” He
also calls for state and federal governments to make new commitments to
improve access to college for these students. He concludes, “There may be no
better investment that we can make in
the future of the American dream—and
the promise of equal opportunity for all.”