<p>I came across an interesting anomaly in Richmond's Common Data Set. There is a distinct difference between freshman year and other undergrad years in merit aid (non-need-based nor athletic). For most schools I have looked at, the number of students per grade and the award is fairly consistent between freshmen and other undergraduate years. In Richmond's case there is a big difference. </p>
<p>At Richmond, nearly twice as many "upperclassmen" per grade receive merit aid and the average award per student is roughly halved. While a number of scenarios might account for this, say a large number of non-freshmen getting small stipends, the numbers make it look like merit aid awards are reduced after freshmen year and spread out among more students. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any light to shed on this? Does anyone have knowledge of merit aid awards being reduced as freshmen become upperclassmen?</p>
<p>What specific line numbers are you referring to in the common dataset? Do you see the same thing in prior year common datasets as well?</p>
<p>H2A-n and H2A-o</p>
<p>Yes, it is consistent across recent years.</p>
<p>OK. I see what you’re talking about, although I don’t see line H2A-n for the most recent CDS. Using the 08-09 CDS 49 frosh received and average of $32.7K. If this were uniform for all 4 classes, one would expect 196 students. But as you point out there are 436, or 240 more than might be expected.</p>
<p>If the 196 students all received $32.7K the total would be about $6.4 million. Yet the total for all undergrads is about $8.4 million (436x$19.2K). The increase of 240 students receiving non-need-based aid comes with an increase of $2 million in aid, or an average of $8000 for each of the 240 students. </p>
<p>I can only speculate, but it need not be the case that freshman awards are reduced in future years. It is possible that some students receiving merit aid leave the school, but overall Richmond has a 91% freshman retention rate and probably higher than that for those awarded merit aid.</p>