<p>It’s clear that Vanderbilt has been seeking not just more religious diversity, but more Jewish students in particular. Vanderbilt hasn’t been the only southern college to do so in recent years.</p>
<p>[Vanderbilt</a> U. Woos Jewish Students - Beliefnet.com](<a href=“Vanderbilt U. Woos Jewish Students - Beliefnet”>Vanderbilt U. Woos Jewish Students - Beliefnet)
[Explaining</a> the Boom - Campus - New Voices](<a href=“Campus & Community Archives | New Voices”>http://www.newvoices.org/campus?id=0003)
[Why</a> More Colleges Want Jewish Students | Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/29/jewish]Why”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/29/jewish)</p>
<p>What’s not so clear to me is how Vanderbilt might be using money as part of this effort. Are they really showering “need based” aid, in amounts as high as $40K, on families making as much as $300K/year, just for being Jewish? Or is some other factor involved? In other words, can any well-qualified Jewish applicant realistically expect to get the same benefit regardless of family income? Or is emilybee’s step-nephew just an isolated, one-off case?</p>
<p>The one parallel I can think of is to international students at small LACs. Average aid to internationals at Amherst exceeds $40K; in 2010-11 it went to 146 students (which is almost all internationals on campus). Aid to internationals is characterized in the CDS only as “institutional financial aid” (not broken down into need-based v. non-need-based). I suppose it’s possible that Vanderbilt is enticing significant numbers of Jewish applicants with similar non-need, non-merit incentives in similarly high amounts.</p>