Doing more with less

As socio-economic diversity on campus has increased, so has the need for institutional aid. More than 26 % of this year’s incoming class comes from Pell Grant-eligible families. Pell Grants do not come close to covering the cost of tuition at many colleges. This means that for many low and middle-income students community and state college may be the only feasible options.

While a commitment to need-blind admissions, (in which a prospective student’s financial situation is not considered as part of the admission decision) allows the College craft the best class possible, it also requires heavy financial lifting to enable higher need students to attend. On average, 67% of a Simon’s Rock student’s financial aid package is comprised of institutional aid, and 80% of students on campus receive some form of financial aid. To do this the College draws from as many sources as possible.

“Because our mission is so unique, Simon’s Rock has a particular obligation to ensure that students who can benefit from early college are able to attend, regardless of accidents of opportunity or of birth,” Davidson explains. “Our applicants simply don’t have the option of going to that other four-year, residential, liberal arts and sciences-focused, exclusively early college that offered them a better financial aid package.” The College spends a significant portion of its financial aid funds, drawn from the annual operating budget, on the Simon’s Rock Scholarship, which is awarded solely on the basis of need.

In addition, the College has maintained efforts to attract the nation’s highest achievers while expanding the diversity of the student body. Like other top-quality liberal arts colleges, Simon’s Rock attracts some of its students with merit-based scholarships. Of these, the most widely known is the Acceleration to Excellence Program (AEP). In the past, the College awarded full AEP Scholarships that covered tuition, room, board, and fees, along with a number of partial tuition scholarships. A common criticism of merit scholarships nationwide is that they tend to be awarded to students from higher income families. In order to ensure that we direct as many of our aid dollars as possible to students who would otherwise be unable to attend Simon’s Rock, Davidson explains, the full AEP award was restructured several years ago so that it covers only the cost of tuition. Recipients with significant financial need may apply for additional need-based aid to help cover the cost of room and board. The savings allows the college to allocate more funds to need-based aid.

The W.E.B Du Bois Scholarship is a different model. Initiated in the 1980s and designed to support students of color with a record of academic achievement and motivation, the Du Bois Scholarship is awarded by the Office of Admission on the basis of merit. However, the amount of each recipient’s scholarship is determined by the Financial Aid Office on the basis of need. It’s a distinctive hybrid model, marrying merit and need, and designed to support the College’s diversity efforts.

It is exactly what helped Andrea Guzman get here. This second year Du Bois Scholar isn’t sure she’d be here without it. “I would have gone to college but it would have had to be at a place I could afford, close to home.” She takes a deep breath, “I was so relieved when I got the scholarship.” Guzman says it’s not that colleges and universities in Virginia aren’t good; it’s just that they’re not Simon’s Rock. Andrea imagines that she would have gone to school with most of the students from her high school, with a homogeneous student body, commuted if it were close enough, and sat nameless in a giant lecture hall. For someone that has traveled as much as Andrea has, she’s confident when she says, “This is the perfect place for me.”