"Diversity" Admins At Colleges Are Forgetting The Color Green
Colleges are falling all over themselves to build spa-like dorms and hire legions of lavishly paid administrators, and -- surprise, surprise -- tuition has skyrocketed, even at public colleges. (The college loandoggle is a major part of driving costs up, of course.)

Who suffers the most from this? Kids from low-income families -- the kind of "diversity" admissions few colleges seem to care all that much about.

In fact, Jillian Berman writes at MarketWatch of how, increasingly, public colleges are becoming unaffordable for low-income students:

In the popular imagination, public colleges are a place where a state's students from all walks of life can gather, learn from each other and earn the type of education that will help them succeed beyond graduation. But new research suggests many of these schools are becoming increasingly out of reach for low-income students, putting that ideal in danger.

At 52% of public colleges, students from families that earned $30,000 per year or less paid at least $10,000 annually to attend during the 2015-2016 academic year, according a report released Wednesday by New America, a Washington-based think tank. That's up from just 34% of public colleges in the 2010-2011 academic year.

Rutgers seems to be doing a good job of making college workable for low-income kids:

53% of students at Rutgers-Newark receive a Pell grant, the money the federal government provides to low-income students, students from families earning less than $30,000 per year pay $7,796 on average.

Historically, the school's enrollment has always been heavy on first-generation and commuter students. It's always been part of Rutgers-Newark's mission to serve those students, he said. But over the past several years, Gunkel said officials have become more intentional about ensuring equitable outcomes for students who are often underrepresented and underserved by higher education.

...The school expanded financial-aid offerings, including by providing completion grants -- or small sums of money to students close to graduating, but struggling financially -- and through a program that allows any student who is a resident of Newark and from a family with an annual income of $60,000 or less to attend the school tuition free.

Many students are commuting in part to save money, so officials also look for ways to make college logistically feasible for its students to finish school on time. They do this by making sure campus institutions have flexible hours so students can stay connected, even if they don't live in dorms, Gunkel said.

Officials also work with faculty to schedule and structure classes in a way that don't "tangle students" on their path towards a degree by, for example, requiring them to be in two places at once to get the credits they need to graduate on time, he added.

via ifeminists