<p>When I ran the numbers yesterday, I made every effort to use numbers that would be favorable to Vassar. I used Borghugh’s data suggesting that the percentage of students on FA at Vassar had only dropped from 60% during the 2012-2013 school year to 56% in the current freshman class (at a time when Vassar had decided to ramp up admission of Pell Grant recipients).</p>
<p>However, vonlost reminded me that “her” numbers are Vassar’s numbers and come from an official document Vassar uploaded onto its website. According to this document, 66% of Vassar students were on FA during the 2012-2013 school year.</p>
<p>Developing models using several assumptions, that is, that enrollment of Pell Grant recipients increased from 5%, 10%, or 15% in previous years to 20% this year, and working with the data that shows a drop in the overall percentage of students on FA from 66% to 56%, the data look even worse than I had thought:</p>
<p>If up until now, 5% of Vassar’s students were on Pell Grants (PG), 61% were middle class students on partial financial aid (MC-FA), and 34% were wealthy enough not to qualify for FA (wealthy), a proportionate drop in MC-FA and wealthy students to accommodate enrolling a class consisting of 20% PG students would have led to a current freshman class composed of 51.4% MC-FA and 28.6% wealthy students. Instead, the current class is 36% MC-FA and 44% wealthy students.</p>
<p>WOW WOW WOW!</p>
<p>If we assume that 10% of Vassar’s students were on PG up until now, 56% were MC-FA, and 34% was wealthy, a proportionate drop in MC-FA and wealthy enrollment to accommodate 20% PG students would have led to a class composed of 49.8% MC-FA and 30.2% wealthy students. Instead, the corresponding percentages are 36% and 44%.</p>
<p>To accommodate a change from 15% PG enrollment to 20% PG enrollment, Vassar should have enrolled a class composed of 48% MC-FA and 32% wealthy students. </p>
<p>I suspect one of my 3 models (5%, 10%, or 15% PG recipients) is an accurate picture of enrollment at Vassar prior to adoption of the new policy to build a class that is composed of 20% PG recipients. This means that enrollment of MC-FA students has dropped from between 15 and 25% while enrollment of wealthy students has increased 10%. </p>
<p>Where is the outrage? How can President Hill claim that Vassar is need-blind? Why doesn’t she admit what has happened to enrollment of MC-FA students at Vassar? Is she just hoping no one will notice?</p>