Washington Monthly - September/October 2015 - 41

Table 1: Potential Contributors: Colleges that could graduate far more Pell Grant recipients by increasing access for low-income students Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus PA 41.5% $17,881 26 29.7% 15.0% 14.7 1,081 86% 930 1 University of Delaware DE 41.7% $9,906 26 28.1% 13.0% 15.1 611 80% 489 5 Indiana University- Bloomington IN 42.8% $4,426 25 28.4% 20.0% 8.4 618 75% 462 6 University of Alabama AL 52.5% $15,542 26 30.3% 19.7% 10.6 628 67% 418 5 Purdue University- Main Campus IN 42.8% $6,873 26 27.7% 19.7% 8.0 527 69% 365 3 James Madison University VA 38.8% $9,807 25 24.1% 13.3% 10.8 447 81% 361 3 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA 38.8% $11,114 27 22.5% 15.0% 7.5 393 83% 325 5 San Diego State University CA 52.3% $5,038 23 45.1% 31.3% 13.8 474 66% 313 15 Towson University MD 44.2% $8,633 23 38.7% 21.7% 17.1 421 65% 273 6 Texas Tech University TX 54.5% $8,449 24 35.3% 25.3% 10.0 435 61% 264 5 49.0% $9,767 25 31.0% 19.4% 11.6 563 73% 420 5.4 only 15 percent at Penn State, and Santa Barbara charges low-income students about half as much. As in Pennsylvania, Indiana's flagship schools come up short on Pell enrollment. Why? An administrator for enrollment management at Purdue University lamented that Indiana's high school graduates "are not as prepared to be as successful in college as we would like them to be," especially in math. This has led the university to recruit large numbers of nonresidents to meet enrollment and revenue targets. Leadership at Indiana University-Bloomington cited similar efforts to recruit out-of-state students, noting the challenge of balancing "academic quality, diversity, and affordability." It's certainly true that these schools have aggressively recruited out-of-state and international students- who, not coincidentally, typically pay upward of $28,000 in annual tuition, far higher than Hoosier residents. Instate enrollment at Purdue declined by 700 students Note: Median ACT Score, Actual Pell Enrollment Rate, 6-Year Graduation Rate, Net Price for Low-Income Students, and Percent Pell Enrollment Among All Institutions in State are averages of the 2011, 2012, and 2013 data to adjust for variation over time. Pe Am rcen in ong t Pe Sta A ll E te l l I n n r s ti o ll m tu t e n Ne ion t s I n c t Pr o m i ce e S for tu d L o e n wts Me dia nA CT Sc ore Pr e E n dic r o l te d lm P e n e ll tR a te Ac E n tu a l rol Pe lm ll en tR a te Pe l l (P r E n e d ro i c t llm ed - A e nt c tu R Pe a l , a te (# ll En pc of t . p G ap Pe rollm ts. ll R ) e ec i p i nt G e n ap 6-Y ts) ea rG rad ua ti o Ad nR d it a te ion al Pe ll C Ac om I n c tu a l p le P r (p c e a e r te r t. p se, cen s t s . 20 t P ) 08 el -2 l 013 Institution AVERAGE Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). PELL CONTRIBUTIONS Sta t e CONTEXT over the past decade, while international enrollments grew by 690. Non-Hoosiers-including these international students-now make up 43 percent of West Lafayette's student body. At Bloomington, the international student population has increased by nearly 600 since 2004, the fastest growing of any student group on campus. There is no reason to believe that the number of qualified Indiana residents has declined so dramatically in just ten years. Among the 20,000 low-income high school graduates in Indiana, these premier colleges could certainly each recruit a few hundred more talented students with the capacity to succeed in their rigorous curriculums. Proof that this is possible is available right in the state: Bloomington, with a median ACT score of 25, chose to enroll 618 fewer needy students than it might have; Indiana Wesleyan University, with a median ACT score of 24, chose to enroll 260 more. Washington Monthly 41

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Washington Monthly - September/October 2015