Schools best at providing access to poor and middle-income families.

[bclintonk]

@prospect1

“Schools like #136 WUSTL, #139 Boston College, #144 Wake Forest, #146 Villanova, #147 American, #148 Pitt, #151 George Washington, #152 Penn State, #153 Whitman, #154 Carnegie Mellon, #163 RPI, #165 Northeastern, #167 University of Miami, and #173 WPI are all schools that get a fair amount of attention on CC but do poorly on this index due to a combination of low numbers of Pell grant recipients in their respective student bodies and a high net cost for middle-income students.”

^^^^ And how many of these colleges have higher per-student endowments than NYU and BU? The outpouring of ire should be directed at them, not always so focused on NYU and BU.

Well, let’s see. WUSTL ($418K/student), Whitman ($300K/student), Wake Forest ($143K/student), Boston College ($137K/student), Pitt ($101K/student), RPI ($88k/student), and Carnegie Mellon ($75K/student) have endowments bigger than NYU ($67K/student) and BU ($44K/student). George Washington ($63K/student) is similar to NYU and a bit higher than BU. University of Miami ($49K/student), American ($46K/student) and Villanova ($42K/student) are about the same as BU. Penn State ($33K/student) is lower than both NYU and BU, though Penn State also gets some money from the state, which operates in effect as a substitute for endowment payout. Northeastern ($24K/student) is lower than either

With the exception of WUSTL and Whitman, these are not large-endowment schools. Most schools aren’t, public or private. Yet some low-endowment schools do much better on the NY Times index. An example would be #24 Knox College in Galesburg, IL, with only $70K/student endowment, which nonetheless manages to graduate 24% Pell grantees, yet maintains a moderate $19K average net cost for middle-income students, about the same as the public flagship, the University of Illinois. Or #33 Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, with only $50K in endowment per student, but 21% Pell grantees and also a moderate $19K average net cost for middle-class students. These are both pretty decent LACs—not AWS, by any means, but good, solid colleges that seem to make it a high institutional priority to recruit, enroll, and graduate low-income students while keeping costs down for the middle class.

I’ve got nothing against NYU or BU in particular. They’re pretty good schools for those who can afford them. I wouldn’t particularly recommend either of them to low- and moderate-income students, but I would say the same of all the schools I listed. Or more precisely, I’d say “Go ahead and apply if you like, but temper your expectations about how affordable it will be. But you never know, lightning might strike and you might end up with an attractive FA package. Just know going in that most in your financial status don’t.”

*I say “marginally” more generous because we are talking about the top 179 most generous colleges with a 75%-plus grad rate.

I think that may be a misinterpretation of what the NY Times list represents. Sad to say, but I think these may be the only U.S. college and universities with a 75%+ five-year graduation rate.