https://news.wttw.com/2019/08/08/uchicago-empower-initiative-adds-diversity-student-body
Note: for any non Chicagoans, WTTW is the flagship PBS station here.
At the end there: over 3,000 internships of $5,000 each . . . . was he mis-speaking, or is Metcalf going to expand in both numbers of jobs and stipend amount?
The Dean may not have given the most electrifying of interviews, but he adroitly made his point. I suppose his agreeing to come on a program like that was in itself part of the initiative to spread the word that the University is affordable and open to all, notwithstanding that headline about the sticker price which the interviewer obsessed on. He dealt with her repeated questions about that pretty well, I thought, not denying or apologizing for the fact itself but explaining patiently how that cost is mitigated such that hardly any Chicago student graduates with other than minor indebtedness (not the narrative the interviewer expected).
Something about him - a certain serious and even somewhat painful effort at precise speaking - bears the stamp of the University and perhaps even the city and region in which it is situated. I was pleased to hear him speak of Chicago as “our city”.
Old deans seemingly never die, they just fade away: this one is getting creakier, stutterier and thinner with every passing year. Soon there will be little left of him but pipe, moustache and bicycle clips. He will be laid to rest eventually in someone’s novel.
“He will be laid to rest eventually in someone’s novel.”
Not too soon I hope! But Boyer’s bound to retire within the next few years at least. He’s got a house named after him now so that’s probably a clue that his legacy will outlast his remaining years in admin.
It’ll be interesting to see how student debt levels change going forward. As of fall 2017, 182 members of the Class of '21 took out student loans (both federal and other) which is about 10% of the incoming class (rounded). While a higher number, and slightly higher percentage of the class, than the prior two years, it was noticeably lower than the Class of 2017 (287 or around 20% of incoming class fall 2013). Halving the percentage of your incoming who need to take out student loans is kind of remarkable. Furthermore, UChicago’s average institutional grant or scholarship has substantially improved over just a few years ago: $41k on average for a member of the Class of '21 vs. $29k for someone in the Class of '17. That’s a 40% increase!
Snark, Cue and DeepBlue would argue that these improved numbers have everything to do with the class skewing wealthier now with ED, and they do have a valid point now that we have updated numbers on College Navigator (NCES). For instance, only 55% of the Class of '21 received institutional grants or scholarships vs. 62% for Class of '17. While there has been increasing generosity to those enrollees needing financial assistance or earning merit, class size itself has grown faster. Ergo, the shrinking percentage means the incremental enrollee is going to be full-pay. Dean Boyer did mention that tuition covers part of the more generous financial aid plan, which also supports that finding. Of course, UChicago is a lot harder to get into now than it was in 2013 and is attracting some of the top students here and around the world - many of whom happen to be full pay. So that might just be a natural outcome of increasing enrollment and selectivity at the same time. Furthermore, they have really been upping their game with Empower over just the past year alone. So Class of ‘21 might not even represent what’s currently going forward. We’ll know a lot more once we are able to examine the data in a couple years’ time.
In the meantime, $80k is “notable” because it’s $80k. Other top schools are in the ball park, and most who are choosing among elite privates tend to make their decisions based on factors other than sticker price.
@JBStillFlying Yes, it is official. Metcalf goes to $5,000 next summer:
https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2019/8/12/college-raise-metcalf-stipend-5000/
Only Odyssey will be automatic on that amount. Non-Odyssey has to apply for a top-off in 20220 - and it looks like funding is available for no more than 250 of those. Highest cost US and international cities to get priority.
Still, 3000 is a lot of jobs. Metcalf has continued to grow. Class of 2023 will be qualified for most Metcalfs by Summer '21 and it’s always possible that additional funding will become more widely available by then.