Tuition forum takes on element of socioeconomic diversity, covers need-conscious admissions

| Contributing Reporter


Chancellor Mark Wrighton pledged to admit more low-income students each year to increase student body diversity while also defending Washington University’s use of need-conscious admissions at the school’s annual tuition forum Monday.

More than 120 students, faculty and administrators attended the Forum on Diversity in Undergraduate Admissions, rebranded in response to a New York Times article about diversity in recruitment at elite schools that ran over the summer, naming Washington University as one of a few top schools that considers financial need when making admissions decisions.

The chancellor said that while the University would go need-blind if it had the money, it is not sacrificing student diversity with its current process.

“I don’t think we’re screening out dimensions of diversity in the need-aware process,” Wrighton said. “In fact, we have been very proactive in seeking to engage with talented members of minority groups.”

Barbara Feiner, the University’s vice chancellor for finance, said going need-blind would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

“It is not realistic in the foreseeable near future,” Feiner said.

“For us to add one percentage point in terms of the fraction of our students receiving Pell Grants would cost us, on an annual basis, 3 million dollars,” Wrighton added. “We are in a position right now that would not enable us to afford being need-blind.”

John Berg, vice chancellor for admissions, said applications are first reviewed based on merit, and once tentative decisions have been made, they are sent to the financial aid office, where the need of applicants are reviewed in light of the financial aid budget.

“They tell us, based on the need of those applicants, whether we’ve hit our financial aid budget on the nose, whether we’ve exceeded the budget or whether we’re under budget, in which case we can admit more students, which we like to do,” Berg said.

Provost Holden Thorp took the opportunity to explain how he felt about the University’s need-conscious stance as a new member of the administration.

“The thing that I admire about what has gone on here is the transparency level and the fact that we don’t make admissions offers to people unless we can meet all of their need…It’s highly unlikely, if not impossible, that we would have some controversy here where we were misleading people about our aid policy,” Thorp said.

Before Thorp joined Washington University this summer, he was the chancellor of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—which has been need-blind for more than a decade.

“I think the solution is to bring the percentage of low-income students up every year if we can do it, and that’s what we’re planning to do,” he added. “Even as passionate as I am about this, and even as much as I’ve devoted my career to it, I don’t think declaring that we’re need-blind would be the best way to create educational equity.”

Freshman Lauren Chase asked the panel of administrators whether they were taking into consideration the necessity of making the University more accommodating to additional expenses that might challenge low-income students. Mike Runiewicz, director of Student Financial Services, responded that students should reach out to Student Financial Services if they require assistance in additional things that are a part of their collegiate experience.

Wrighton stated that the University takes into account changes in financial circumstances each year and that recent efforts have been made to reduce loan encumbrance.

“I wish that, from the sky, 500 million dollars would fall down to help us with our financial aid programs, but I know that’s not going to happen,” Wrighton jokingly added. “I’m out on the campaign trail with lots of other people making the ask, and we’re receiving gifts; we just haven’t had those mega-scale gifts that would make a big difference all at once. But over time, we’re going to do better.”

Another major focus of the event was the rise in tuition costs in relation to the rate of inflation. The tuition this year increased by a rate of 3.8 percent, which is actually the lowest increase since the 1960s but is comparable to most institutions of a similar caliber. In contrast, the U.S. rate of inflation in the last fiscal year was exactly 1 percent.

“If we just increase [tuition] at the rate of inflation, we’ll be the same next year as we were the last,” Wrighton said.

Following this presentation, Runiewicz spoke about the financial aid process and discussed the University’s ability to distribute Pell Grants.

Wrighton took the opportunity to make a few remarks about Washington University’s dedication to diversity as well.

“We are committed to making Washington University an institution that is accessible and affordable, and our overarching goal will be to reflect the face of America in our student population,” Wrighton said.

Student Union Senate, the Mosaic Project and Washington University for Undergraduate Socio-Economic Diversity jointly hosted the event.

Senior Josh Aiken, a member of the Mosaic Project, led into the question-and-answer session by summarizing the events leading up to the forum, including the New York Times article, the message from the chancellor in the Record and a response to two relevant articles written in the Washington University Political Review.

After the event, junior Arian Jadbabaie, a leader in Washington University for Undergraduate Socio-Economic Diversity, said that he was very excited about the topics covered and the turnout.

“I was very excited at the amount of people here,” Jadbabaie said. “Seeing people care about this issue, which is something we’ve been trying to raise awareness for…it’s really great to see that. I’m excited to see how this can build in momentum with the next few events we’ll have and with programming we’re putting on next semester.”

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