Good article, long!, but good…DSol seems like a great guy. Just kidding. Will see what the future brings for him and his seemingly chronic behavioral issues, thinking he might not be invited back to Hamilton anytime soon.
But to the extent the endowment is funding a portion of the operating budget, a 100% of students are benefiting from the endowment. Maybe some of the kids should be better informed themselves as to how their education is being funded.
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Good point. I assume the cost per student to Hamilton for providing its education is greater than full pay COA, similar to Bowdoin’s (where the student newspaper did an analysis of just that). It’s a little dated, but still likely true and conceptually accurate. How does Bowdoin spend its money? – The Bowdoin Orient
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Yeah, most “full pay” students at selective private colleges are still subsidized by gifts, both endowment income and gifts for immediate use.
At a high level, this is part of why going to a selective private college typically remains a good “investment” even at full pay.
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Middlebury featured prominently in this Forbes article about the housing crisis at some colleges.
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Wow. Battell is certainly going out with a bang.
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In some ways it’s too bad that Battell went. It was sort for a rite of passage for Midd first years. It was physically the worst dorm on one hand, but on the other hand, it had some of the best social life. By “social life”, I don’t mean “lots of parties” (evidently those were at Atwood), but other types of socialization.
Of course, living in a dorm with fully functional plumbing also has benefits…
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Yes, I think fond memories of that NESCAC first-year abound. And they nearly always involve living in the oldest dorms on campus.
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The NYT has updated its College Economic Diversity survey. IIRC, its’s been about six years since the last one. And, NESCAC figures prominently, though none finishes within the top 100. apparently, a lot of colleges and universities have stepped up their games since being outted by the Times in 2014 and 2017. Mount Holyoke is the top SLAC at #48 (a 7-way tie); Macalester is #71 (a 10-way tie); Claremont-McKenna is at #91 (a 9-way tie) while Swarthmore, Wellesley and Grinnell round out the bunch at #100 (a 17-way tie.)
In terms of NESCAC, Amherst continues to lead the pack at #117, followed by Willams (#133), Middlebury (#149), Hamilton and Wesleyan University (tied at #166), Connecticut College (#186) Bowdoin (#207), Trinity College (#220), Colby (#230), Tufts (#265), and Bates (#283).
The Top U.S. Colleges With the Greatest Economic Diversity - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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Thanks @circuitrider. Any chance someone can link this without a paywall?
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Is this better?
The Top U.S. Colleges With the Greatest Economic Diversity - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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Unfortunately, no. I must have used up my “free” article(s) for the month. Not a big deal, just would have liked to read it. Thanks for trying!
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Thanks for sharing. Long time CC lurker, but I just checked out the list and had to create an account to respond. I don’t think Mt. Holyoke is the top SLAC. Berea College at #1 is a national SLAC, as is Salem (#2). Other national small liberal arts colleges near the top include Agnes Scott (#6), Houghton (#9), Earlham (#13), Lake Forest (#13), and Millsaps (#13). All of these schools have 40% or higher freshman with Pell
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I’ll try with a gift link.
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It worked, thanks so much!
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SInce they have recently joined Questbridge (aside from having 3 cohort of Posse Scholars), hopefully that will improve.
However, it’s interesting to note that colleges are really not ranked on a linear ranking. They are actually in groups of up to 20 or so with similar percents. So #100 has 22% and #117 has 21%, while #133 has 20%.
The problem is that it artificially provides some colleges with rankings which are really higher than justified. Salem College (#2) has 69% Pell Grant recipients, which is double that of #28 Mount St. Mary’s University, which has 34%. So Salem is really doing a lot better than a college which is 26 places lower. However, Amherst, at #117 has 21%, while Babson, at 149, has 19% Pell Grant recipients. So Amherst is only doing marginally better than Babson, but it’s placed 32 places higher.
The difference between #117 and #133 or between #133 and #147 is a calculation error, especially for small colleges. For a LAC, we’re talking about no more than 20 Pell Grant students a year who decide to attend or not to can push these colleges up or down 17 places, for the colleges with around 20% Pell Grant recipients.
These rankings give too much credit for minor increases for colleges with relatively low number of Pell Grant recipients but also plays down just how impressive colleges like Agnes Scott actually are.
I think that they need to create a “tier” system in increments of 10%. Berea has a very different model of financial aid, and should have its own category. Or maybe all colleges with the same percent of Pell Grant recipients will have the same rank.
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You have a valid point. I think a tier system would have to take into account how truly tilted in favor of the upper, upper middle class, colleges like the Ivy League and NESCAC really are.
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What’s striking about Middlebury is the change since 2011: +9–by far the greatest increase in the NESCAC.
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Bit of a shakeup in the US News LAC rankings. NESCAC schools are, of course, affected:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges