Blog #6: Visual

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 Merit-Aid Arms Race at Public Universities

    Figure 1 shows that 339 public universities examined has spent approximately $32 billion on non-need-based aid from 2001 through 2007, whereas $49 has been spent on need-based aid. During this period, $2 out of every $5 of the institutional aid went to students who are able to afford college without financial aid. 

    Figure 2 shows how public universities’ use of non-need-based aid has dramatically increased. In 2000-01, 339 public universities spend about $1.1 billion annually on merit-aid for relatively affluent students; however, by 2016-2017, these schools were spending nearly $3 billion yearly on merit-aid. 


    As we can see in Figure 3, more than half of the 339 schools at least doubled the amount of money they spent on merit-aid; more than a third at least tripled the amount; and more than a quarter quadrupled the amount; about one in five schools quintupled the amount. As these data demonstrate, colleges do not merely look for the students with outstanding academic achievement; they in fact work hard to bring wealthy students or the “full-pay” students whose families can afford to pay tuition without the need of financial aid. In this regard, the merit-aid robs the neediest students of their financial aid, leaving them with little choice but to take on heavy debt loans or jobs in order to afford college education.

Furthermore, colleges deliberately underfund financially needy students to discourage them from enrolling. Figure 21 shows that in 2000-2001, 339 public colleges met, on average, three-quarters of the financial need student aid recipients on their campuses. By 2016-17, they met only about two-thirds, with a number of schools meeting the need much less. Altogether, these data provide a compelling evidence that increasing availability of merit-aid (non-need-based aid) has largely come at the expense of low-income students. 



Works Cited

Burd, Stephen. “Crisis Point: How Enrollment Management and the Merit-Aid Arms Race Are Derailing Public Higher Education.” New America, newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/crisis-point-how-enrollment-management-and-merit-aid-arms-race-are-destroying-public-higher-education/. 




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