Where WashU is Worst
A WU/FUSED EDITORIAL
Washington University provides students with an excellent education and conducts groundbreaking research – there is a lot to be proud of at Wash U. With respect to fostering socioeconomic diversity, however, Wash U lags far behind its peers, and we believe that as students it is our role to call on the University to live up to its ideals, match peers institutions, and ultimately lead on this critical issue in higher education. That’s why Washington University for Undergraduate Socioeconomic Diversity is starting a petition calling on the University to take concrete steps to increase the pool of available need-based aid and prioritize the inclusion and support of low-income students when determining endowment allocation and changes to campus facilities, you can sign the petition here. Read on to find out where WashU stands, why, and how we can stop discrimination in admissions.
While Washington University has one of the largest endowment/student ratios among universities with graduation rates over 75%, Wash U comes in last within this cohort in the percentage of Pell Grant recipients it supports. Pell Grants, federal grants that support students with financial need, are an approximate marker of low-income status.
These skewed demographics are a result of Wash U’s need-aware admissions policies. Each year, Wash U receives roughly 30,000 applications, and since the admissions office expects about 1/3 of the applicants they accept to wind up attending Wash U, they accept roughly 5,000 students. First, the admissions office constructs their ideal class, without considering need. They then send that list over to the financial aid office, which tells them how many low-income students the university can afford to support, and how many they will need to replace with provisionally rejected/waitlisted individuals who can afford to pay full tuition. Despite being in the ideal freshman class, many students who needed aid will never see a WashU acceptance letter.
This system effectively discriminates against qualified low-income students, who already face extremely high barriers just to reach the application process. Most importantly, the discrimination doesn’t just kick in at the margins. When asked how many low-income students are cut by the the university’s financial constraints, Provost Thorp explained that going need-blind would mean “70 to 100% more students from the Pell eligible category” at Wash U.
This is problematic for a variety of reasons. Low-income students can feel alienated by the extremely small percentage of low-income students at Wash U, and may be less likely to experience academic success as a result. Furthermore, as a result of Wash U’s unique demographics (the median annual household income is roughly $200,000, 95th percentile in the United States), students at Wash U emerge with a skewed idea of what the United States looks like. The classroom environment benefits from socioeconomic diversity.
Our discriminatory admissions policies also hurt Wash U’s reputation. Provost Thorp sums it up nicely on his blog: “Wash U is ready to make the transition from being rapidly ascending to being one of America’s great, established institutions.”. Our climb up the rankings has hit the point of diminishing returns. We’ve stagnated over the past 5 years despite extraordinary investment in new buildings, luxurious food and dorms, and academics. Compared to the above, socioeconomic diversity is low-hanging fruit. An investment of roughly 25 million a year would take us from a position where we are vilified by the New York Times on a regular basis, to a position in which we might generate positive press for our commitment. This in turn would boost applications and gifts, helping the University in the long run.
Over the past two decades, Washington University has achieved the ranks of a first-rate academic institution. Today, the University draws talented students from across the nation. Discriminatory policies that actively exclude low-income students from admission detract from the meritocratic integrity of this achievement.
All of the above is why Washington University for Socioeconomic Diversity believes that Wash U should prioritize socioeconomic diversity more highly. And make no mistake, it is an issue of priorities. As the New York Times infographic demonstrates, other universities do much more, with a lot less (Johns Hopkins is a particularly good example, since it too has a large medical school). We demand that the University now focus its resources on attracting and supporting a student body that is not only talented, but truly diverse, and better representative of all classes of society. If you agree, we urge you to sign our petition.