Every year, Boston University gets better and brighter, or so it seems. PR blasts each fall about the new class of freshmen and claim them to be the smartest incoming class in the history of BU — or the most diverse, the most exclusive, or just somehow the all-around best. With a list like that, it’s no wonder most people tuned out these facts and figures some time ago.
However, when BU Today published an article Thursday delineating these same super-statistics for the Class of 2021, they also wrote about a much more meaningful statistic.
This year, BU eliminated all loan funds for students eligible for a Pell Grant — increasing the proportion of first year students who qualify for federal grants to 18.2 percent this fall, up from 14.6 percent just last year. Through this simple expansion of financial aid, BU has seen hundreds of more students from low-income backgrounds able to attend school here than ever before.
This decision is making an important statement about BU’s dedication to providing its low-income students better financial aid. By using funds from the school’s endowment in addition to the funds given by BU trustee Richard Cohen, President Robert Brown showed BU’s commitment to students of all socioeconomic backgrounds in a way we have never seen before.
Boston University has gained somewhat of a bad reputation over the past several years for tuition hikes and the like, so a move like this is needed now more than ever. It is true that this decision will help to boost BU’s reputation, but more important than that, it is a concrete and important change that will benefit many real students.
The word diversity is almost always associated with race and ethnicity, but socioeconomic diversity is every bit as important to a university’s success — despite the fact that it’s not spoken about nearly as often in the college admission process. Affirmative action campaigns dating back to the Civil Rights Movement have been pushing to see racial minorities get fair representation in colleges and universities. Seeing this same representation for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds is just as crucial.
Lower-income students already have significant barriers to face when it comes time to apply to college. Things like SAT tutors, study books and Advanced Placement tests cost money, and are all things that can be make-or-break in the cut-throat world of college admissions. Those who can’t afford these things simply have to do without.
It is indisputable that these disadvantaged students have to work harder to achieve the same academic success as their peers. It is a deeply rooted and complex issue that cannot be solved in the blink of an eye. However, once these students are admitted to a college, having the financial aid available to them that could make attending the school an economic possibility is something that should be a given.
Studies have shown that cost is the primary reason students forego their first choice school, with more than 18 percent of high school seniors opting out of a school they were admitted to simply because they could not afford it.
The more students who don’t have to turn away from BU for these exact reasons, the better — both for the students, and BU. A school that is more affordable would undoubtedly attract more applicants, and the more admitted students who choose to attend BU, the lower our acceptance rates would be driven down, and more likely than not, our rankings would be driven up.
That being said, BU’s acceptance rate isn’t nearly as important as its graduation rate. We shouldn’t pride ourselves on how many students we turn away each spring, but rather on how successful the students that start their undergraduate careers here end up becoming. BU should continue to prioritize financial aid for low-income students, not because of how it reflects on us as an institution, but because it is the decent thing to do.
Education is the foundation of our society, and it is critically important that low-income students are not left behind. BU needs to continue this work year after year until low-income students are proportionately represented on our campus. Solving this issue is a marathon, not a sprint, but like any race, it all begins with the first step, and that’s what BU did.
