Students on the Margin

Senior Trinidy Combs would like to be more involved on campus, but she finds it hard to be engaged in the Washington University community while working 22 hours a week at an off-campus job. On top of taking out $17,500 in student loans annually, Trinidy works two 11-hour waitressing shifts each weekend to make ends meet.

Sophomores Hena Vadher and Sarah Trigg also work long hours on top of full course loads to bridge the gap between their financial aid allotments and living costs. Hena works 12-20 hours a week as a nanny. Sarah averages about 18 to 19 weekly hours between her two jobs. Both Hena and Sarah, like Trinidy, feel that financial pressures have compromised their ability to fully partake in the Washington University undergraduate experience.

For Hena, pressure to earn money has had professional and social ramifications. “It affects my ability to go to career center events, it affects my ability to be a part of things on campus, [and] it affects my ability to be a leader on campus,” she said.

Sarah said that the focus on creating an undergraduate experience rich in amenities has excluded students whose families cannot pay the full cost of upscale amenities and comprehensive services. The administration, Sarah said, is “so focused on the experience of Wash. U. that they’re not focused at all on making it an accessible experience.”

As a result, Sarah has observed a divide between students who are fully supported financially —by families or grant aid—and those struggling to earn and borrow sufficient funds to keep up with the costs of being a Washington University student.

“If you can afford this experience,” Sarah said, “then you’ve really gotten the Wash. U. experience.” But many students, like Sarah herself, feel that they have to make important social and extra-curricular sacrifices in order to balance financial and academic demands.

Socioeconomic Metrics

Washington University has gained national attention in recent years for its lack of undergraduate socioeconomic diversity. In 2013 and 2014, the New York Times published articles on higher-education accessibility that spotlighted Washington University for its low enrollment of low-income students, compared to peer institutions. Among institutions with a four-year graduation rate above 75 percent, Washington University ranked last in percentage of students who are Pell-eligible, a federal indicator of low-income status. Only seven percent of Washington University students receive federal Pell grants, compared to 14 percent at Johns Hopkins and Northwestern, two schools that have similar profiles and smaller endowments per student than Washington University.

As a member of Washington University for Undergraduate Socioeconomic Diversity (WU/ FUSED), I have worked to advocate for more socioeconomic diversity on campus, and to draw attention to the University’s need-aware admissions policies, which are the direct cause of the University’s low Pell numbers. Because of constraints in the University’s financial aid budget, the university caps the amount of need it can meet in each incoming class. This in turn imposes a constraint on the number of students with financial need the school can admit. Each year, over a hundred low-income students who would otherwise have been admitted are waitlisted or denied through this process. Washington University Provost Holden Thorp estimates that if Washington University were to be fully need-blind, the number of Pell-eligible students would nearly double.

The logic behind maintaining need-blind admissions policies centers on a commitment to fully meet the financial need of those students the University does admit. Washington University promises to provide a package of grant aid, federally-subsidized loans, and a workstudy allotment to meet the “full need” of every incoming student receiving financial aid.

According to Mike Runiewicz, Director of Student Financial Services (SFS), 37 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid, with an average grant award of $34,000. Annual incomes of families receiving aid packages range from $0 to $250,000.

In January 2015, Washington University announced that it will nearly double the number of Pell-eligible students it admits—and supports—by 2020. Specifically, the University pledged to increase the percentage of Pell-eligible students from 7 to 13 percent over the next five years, through a commitment of an extra $25 million annually to financial aid resources. This funding estimate covers financial aid resources to meet the “full need” of all incoming students, but does not include any expansion of support services beyond financial aid packages.

In the wake of this announcement, I began speaking to current students who receive financial aid to learn about challenges they face as low- and lower-middle-income students on campus.

Many of the students with whom I spoke said that the “full need” met by the University was not enough to enable them to take full advantage of the undergraduate experience. One student, a senior who asked not to be named, said that she feels the University meets “full need with an asterisk.” This student, who is not Pell-eligible, worked 25-hour weeks last semester, on top of being a Residential Advisor. She says her need has been met at the most basic level, but this hasn’t been enough to provide her equal opportunities as a Washington University student. “Every year I’ve been able to come back,” she said, “but with a lot of struggle, and a disproportionate burden [compared] to the students around me.”

SFS calculates a student’s “full need” by subtracting a family’s expected contribution from the estimated cost of tuition, housing, books, travel, and other miscellaneous expenses. Hena and Trinidy have also felt that their aid packages determined by SFS have not been enough to support the full undergraduate experience.

Hena receives significant grant aid from the University, which covers her tuition but not the full extent of her living costs. She feels that the package calculated to meet her family need has not been sufficient, and she sees a significant gap between meeting minimum requirements of “full need” and providing more robust and holistic support services.

“This isn’t how much I need to be able to go here comfortably,” she explained. “It’s the difference between scraping by and putting a lot stress on people and being able to say that I’m a student here who gets to take advantage of the full opportunities that I’m allotted by being a student here.”

More Low -Income Students to Come

Recent national media coverage has focused specifically on Pell-grant percentages as the marker of which colleges are least, and most, socioeconomically diverse. Variables like student financial stress are more difficult to quantify and have been secondary to the discussion of socioeconomic diversity on campus.

For Provost Thorp, increasing the number of low-income students that Washington University admits is a higher priority goal than increasing the financial aid packages of those who do attend. “We understand that there are people who even with our packages have to make sacrifices in order to be here,” Thorp explained, “but I think we feel that expanding the number of people who have the opportunity [to be here] is the most important way to expend resources.”

Provost Thorp said that publicly stating a 13 percent Pell grant threshold was an act of “staking ourselves out on the goal,” and a commitment to allocate necessary resources to increasing socioeconomic diversity in a measurable way. “If we have to make other sacrifices down the line, this isn’t going to be an area where we’re going to make sacrifices,” Thorp said.

Trinidy, Hena, and Sarah are glad to see the University directing resources towards supporting socioeconomic diversity on campus. They are concerned, however, about how ready the campus is for an influx of low-income students, and wonder what impact this new priority will have on those students already struggling to pay for the Washington University experience.

Trinidy commended the administration’s commitment to admitting more Pell-eligible students, but expressed frustration with the University’s announcement given her own financial difficulties at the University.

“You should first make sure that all the students on your campus have their need met before you bring in all these new students and start meeting their need,” she said.

Hena expressed concern for students “on the margins,” who do not receive federal Pell-grants and thus are often not considered “low-income,” but who nevertheless struggle to afford the niceties of a Washington University education. She wonders how the new policy will impact these students, who fall somewhere between “low” and “middle” income.

While Trinidy receives a federal Pell grant and is part of TRiO, a federally funded program that supports low-income, first-generation, and disabled students, Sarah and Hena do not receive Pell grants, and are not part of the TRiO program.

Between 800 and 900 Washington University students are eligible for TRiO, but the program only has funding to support 200 of them. Students who are eligible but not included in the program, and students who may not be TRiO eligible but still struggle to afford the Washington University experience, do not have access to supplementary and emergency grant aid, academic support, and other resources that TRiO provides.

Because the TRiO program is tied to a federal grant, which is capped at the current level, the program’s government funding will not increase in response to increasing numbers of Pell-eligible students—but need, and the already sizable gap between need and available support services, will grow.

Pricey Dorms and Feelings of Isolation

Students interviewed for this article cited the high cost of the Washington University experience, from housing and meal plans to hidden costs related to coursework and social integration, as a major source of financial stress.

Sarah, a sophomore living on the South 40, describes the on-campus housing system as “broken.” Prices vary significantly across various housing options, ranging from $6,964 to $11,554 for freshman accommodations for the 2014- 2015 academic year, and $9,222 to $11,554 for sophomores. Juniors and seniors who choose to stay on campus generally face even higher rates—up to $13,666 annually. Freshmen are required to live in on-campus housing, and sophomores generally face social pressure to stay on the South 40.

Sarah said she knows of freshmen looking to move off campus for their sophomore year, despite wanting to stay on the South 40, because of financial pressures. She feels that low- and middle-income students are faced with “false decisions” over the course of their time at Washington University.

“You have the choice,” she explained, “but there’s only really one choice you can make if you want to come out of this not completely sunk by debt.”

Sarah was placed through the housing lottery in the Village—typically for juniors and seniors—but was unable to afford the higher rates. As a result, she and her roommates were placed in Rutledge, a freshman dorm, where they feel isolated, and “forgotten” by Residential Life.

Rob Wild, Associate Vice Chancellor for students and head of Residential Life, explained that price differentials are a way to keep cheaper options available to students, who can express a preference for these options through the housing lottery process. Wild said that charging a single rate for all housing options might hurt, rather than help, those students most concerned with annual room rates. “Based on the model that we have,” Wild explained, “you would have to charge a higher rate than the lower cost buildings, so I’m not sure that’s what we’d want to do.”

The average price of housing has been steadily rising as Residential Life has renovated and torn down traditional dorms to replace them with modern residence halls. Wild said that this process of facilities renovation began in the late 1990s, when there weren’t many modern buildings. Today, though, Wild said, Residential Life is at “a tipping point,” as only a few traditional dorms remain. According to Wild, taking down Lee and Beaumont “would essentially eliminate the last of the less-expensive freshman options.”

Wild said Residential Life is trying to have a conversation now about providing affordable on-campus housing options across all four years of undergraduate life. This conversation centers on two goals: increasing financial aid allocations to support greater living costs, and ensuring more affordable living options.

While financial aid packages used to be based on the cost of a traditional double room, they are now, as of fall 2014, based on the cost of a modern double, which is about one thousand dollars more expensive annually. Wild worries about self-segregation along socioeconomic lines, and a scenario in which Washington University has “buildings that are for low-income students.” Ensuring financial aid packages are sufficient to cover full student need related to housing costs, Wild said, is key to improving students’ Residential Life experience. But Wild also acknowledges that a subset of students who fall in the low- to middle-income range, who do not have all housing costs covered by financial aid, are most adversely impacted by rising housing prices.

Over the next few years, Residential Life will make further renovation and demolition decisions that will shape residential cost structures. Rubelman Hall, a traditional freshman dormitory, will be demolished this summer and replaced with a modern residential building. The fate of the two other freshman traditional dormitories, Lee and Beaumont, is still up in the air. Wild said that the two dormitories need to be at the very least renovated, as they were built in the 1960s to last 50 years, but they could be renovated to remain low-cost buildings, rather than torn down and replaced with modern facilities. University Terrace, the lowest-cost upper-classman housing option, is also being considered for renovation, though no concrete plans are yet on the table.

The costs of the Washington University experience extend beyond the sticker price of residential life. Many students struggle to pay for textbooks, flights home, and other miscellaneous costs, which financial aid takes into account, but doesn’t always cover fully.

Because financial aid covers only eight academic semesters, low-income students often have less academic flexibility when it comes to summer classes and study abroad opportunities. Taylor Banks, a sophomore Chemistry major, considered switching into the Engineering school as a freshman, but wasn’t able to take a summer Physics course because her financial aid would not have covered it. Dr. Jennifer Smith, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, said that making this type of funding availability is a priority going forward.

The challenges of being a low-income student on campus extend beyond paying for academic activities. Christian Archuleta, a junior whose full scholarship covers tuition and housing costs, is forced to stay on campus over Thanksgiving and spring breaks for financial reasons, which can be isolating and, he said, a bit boring. Christian also said it can be hard to meet people from backgrounds similar to his own on campus.

Other students voiced similar concerns, and spoke of stress, anxiety, and loneliness related to being a low-income student on a campus overwhelmingly marked by privilege. One student, a senior, said she has suffered anxiety over the course of her time at Washington University that has been directly linked to feeling like she didn’t belong on campus as a first generation student. Other students articulated feelings of guilt for being the source of their families’ financial difficulties.

Some students said they feel that cushy amenities have taken precedence over keeping Washington University affordable. Caleb Edwards, a senior, sees some of the fancy amenities on campus as evidence of misplaced priorities—he’d rather see this money directed towards making Washington University more affordable and accessible. Other students see the constant renovation of dorms as evidence of a commitment to national rankings over affordability.

A Shortfall of Resources

Trinidy and Sarah both cited the costs of the student healthcare system as a source of stress. Even with student health insurance, each visit to Student Health Services (SHS) comes with a $20 copay. Trinidy said that financial restrictions are a deterrent to seeking medical help. “You’re afraid to get sick. When you are sick, you’re afraid to go to the hospital,” she said.

When Trinidy did get sick and was overwhelmed by medical bills, the TRiO program stepped in and helped cover costs. But many students who are not part of the TRiO program feel they have nowhere to turn for help.

While some sources of emergency funding beyond TRiO do exist—Student Financial Services provides supplementary grants, and the College of Arts & Sciences can also sometimes provide funds to students in need—most students I interviewed were unaware of these resources.

Dr. Harvey Fields, Director of the TRiO program, is spearheading an initiative under the Provost’s office to evaluate existing resources for students and make recommendations about areas of need. In June, he will issue a report to Provost Thorp with his findings.

The costs of extending resources commensurate with those provided through the TRiO program to all eligible students, though, would be significant—and are not included in the funding of the current plan to double Pell percentages by 2020.

The 5-year federal grant for the TRiO program is $1.7 million, and Washington University provides about an equivalent amount in ancillary aid to support the program, in addition to scholarship aid for the students involved. There are already 600 eligible students who are not included in the program; if the University achieves its goal of admitting a student body comprised of 13 percent Pell-eligible students, there will be about 1,000 students in need of extra support who are not accommodated within the TRiO program’s 200 slots by 2020.

The $25 million estimated annual cost of supporting more Pell-eligible students includes financial aid packages to meet students’ “full need,” but does not include funding for ancillary programs and resources for students.

Provost Thorp says that Washington University’s graduation rate—among the highest in the nation at 94 percent over six years—and relatively low debt levels are evidence that existing financial support services are generally effective. In 2014, 30 percent of Washington University seniors graduated with debt, with an average burden of $23,858. While this is lower than the national average, many students voiced anxiety about debt, which can restrict the flexibility of postgraduate plans.

Washington University has a “no-loan” policy that pledges to support any student from a family with an annual income below $75,000 with sufficient grant aid to graduate completely debt free. This program has reduced the number of students graduating with debt by 10 percent. The $75,000 income ceiling does not, however, take into account factors such as family size, location, and extenuating circumstances.

Northwestern University has a similar no-loan policy based on student need rather than family income, which takes into account a more holistic view of a student’s family finances. Northwestern also caps the amount of federally subsidized loans it lets any undergraduate take out at $20,000. Washington University does not cap the amount of debt that a student can take on.

Trinidy, who transferred to Washington University as a junior in order to pursue a degree in systems engineering, will graduate with over $50,000 in deb—$35,000 of this accumulated over her two years at Washington University. She has a post-graduate job offer, but says that, if she could do it over again, she would probably go to her state school to avoid such a large loan burden.

“I don’t know if the price tag is worth it,” she said.

Trinidy has felt completely excluded from the undergraduate community during her two years here, and was forced to look for work off campus because of low on-campus wages. Work-study wages, which range from minimum wage to upwards of $10 an hour, depending on the department, were not, in Trinidy’s view, sufficient “to cover any real expenses.”

Because she feels alienated from the undergraduate community, Trinidy feels that her experience at the University has been reduced to simply obtaining a degree. She said that, while she would like to be able to be more involved, she sometimes tells herself, “I’m just here to get my piece of paper and go.”

Sarah said that there can be a stigma to withdrawing from the undergraduate activities and opportunities. She feels that fellow students assume that those who don’t fully take advantage of these opportunities simply didn’t want the full experience, while administrators assume an attitude in which students who can’t partake in the experience are missing out. She feels that the prevailing attitude places blame for missing out on the full undergraduate experience “on the student who can’t afford it.”

Dr. Angela Miller, a professor of Art History and Archaeology, said that better supporting socioeconomic diversity is a prerequisite to Washington University becoming a top-tier institution. Miller believes that universities have a duty to democratize access to the social capital they represent, as many elite institutions, like many of the Ivy League, have done in recent decades. “I think that what we’re calling on Washington University to do is to keep up with those top-notch institutions which we see as our peers,” Miller said.

But Miller also believes that it is crucial to ensure that those students who are accepted are adequately supported. Once the University brings in low-income students, she said, it is important “to follow up by creating an atmosphere in which those students can feel at ease, and accepted, and at home, and valued within a broader institutional and social culture that is very privileged.”

Sharon Stahl, Vice Chancellor for Students, says that it is her priority that “every student who comes to Washington University gets to experience all the opportunities we offer to undergraduates.” The primary resources for struggling students, Dean Stahl said, are Student Financial Services and the four-year advising system. SFS Director Mike Runiewicz said he encourages any student with financial worries to come talk to a SFS counselor. But many students expressed hesitation about going and asking for a larger financial aid package, or are skeptical about prospects of success.

Provost Thorp sees the commitment to double the number of Pell-eligible students at Washington University by 2020 as a signal that “we take seriously our obligation to help with the persistent inequality that plagues America, and the obligation that higher education has to make ourselves accessible to everybody who deserves a chance to come.”

While need-aware admissions practices will continue, fewer students will be turned away for financial reasons. Thorp says he will be looking at lots of ways to ensure that all Washington University students “can thrive here,” but increasing the number of Pell-eligible students at Washington University is his top priority in the short-term.

“When we get to 13 percent we’re going to look around and see what’s next, but between now and then we’ve got to keep our eye focused on getting that done.”

The percentage of Pell-eligible students at the University, Provost Thorp said, is “an important statement about our values as to the power of higher education.”

Sarah is concerned, though, that the University is critically underprepared for twice the number of Pell-eligible students, “socially and financially.”

These newly admitted Pell-eligible students, she predicted, “are going to have to work all the jobs and still want to be part of the social climate and still have to deal with this broken housing system.” She is concerned that these new low-income students will face financial challenges and a lack of resources and support services that will make it difficult for them to take full advantage of undergraduate opportunities.

She said, “I’d love for them to have experiences as well as contribute to the experience.”