WASHINGTON — Colleges and universities should rethink the way they distribute institutional aid in order to matriculate more students who lack the means to pay, several scholars said Thursday at a discussion on enrollment management.
“I do believe that institutions of higher education ought to be engines of opportunity, not perpetuating or accentuating inequality,” said Donald Hossler, senior scholar at the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice at the University of Southern California.
But Hossler cautioned against being too critical of colleges and universities for using their institutional aid to attract more high ability students who can pay their tuition — a trend identified in a New America report titled “Undermining Pell: Volume III: The News Keeps Getting Worse for Low-Income Students.”
“Some of this kind of ‘merit aid game’ can be helpful,” Hossler said, noting that the tuition generated from paying students can be used to help students without the ability to pay — something Hossler referred to as the “Robin Hood effect.”
Hossler made his remarks during a panel discussion at New America — a research and policy organization that regularly tackles issues in higher education.
While the organization seeks policy solutions, Hossler said the issue of enrollment management is a complex one that does not lend itself easily to being solved through new laws.
