NEW YORK — Recruiting and retaining underprivileged students at elite institutions was a key theme of the fifth annual New York Times Schools for Tomorrow conference that concluded yesterday. The proceedings kicked off Thursday evening with the unveiling of the 2015 College Access Index, which aims to measure economic diversity at top colleges. The index was created by The Upshot, a New York Times blog.
At a session titled “Low Income/High Potential,” the presidents of Arizona State University, Vassar College, Grinnell College and the University of Chicago joined Upshot editor David Leonhardt to discuss how to ensure that underprivileged yet talented students can enroll and succeed at their respective institutions.
One part of the discussion touched on data that indicates that underprivileged students are more likely to graduate when enrolled at elite institutions as compared to less-selective institutions. Grinnell President Raynard Kington said he believes that institutions like his that are small and highly selective have some advantages when it comes to helping their underprivileged students graduate.
“We’re sort of high-touch places; our student/faculty ratio is 9 to 1. We have 1,600 students; almost all of them live on campus. We have great financial aid.” Nevertheless, at Grinnell, “Students of color are slightly less likely to graduate but we’re starting a whole series of interventions to address that.” However, highly selective, small institutions like Grinnell “are more likely to catch any student who stumbles.”
