Dive Brief:
- The Institute for Higher Education Policy looked at selective public colleges in its latest report, highlighting the schools that did the best and worst at enrolling Pell Grant recipients.
- While all of the colleges in the report have similar levels of selectivity, Inside Higher Ed reports Indiana University at Bloomington, Penn State, Purdue, James Madison, San Diego State, Texas Tech, Towson, the Universities of Alabama and Delaware, Virginia State, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute were among those enrolling a smaller-than-expected proportion of Pell students.
- The report's authors dismissed excuses of cost and location, finding schools that had high proportions of students from low-income families got there by doing extensive outreach and providing support for students on campus.
Dive Insight:
Schools with higher-than-expected portions of Pell-eligible students include Florida State, Grand Valley State, Indiana Wesleyan, Stetson, the University of Florida, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Riverside.
On the private college side of things, Vassar has long been recognized for opening its doors to minority students and those from low-income families. Colby College, in Maine, has pivoted to make this a priority under new presidential leadership from David Greene. Increasing enrollment from these populations is about more than outreach and must include culture changes on campus and additional services for students.