Students are more likely to
matriculate if they go to a lower-
income school
Admittees from schools with
higher percentages of students
receiving free or reduced lunch,
a signifier of the family income
of students within the school,
correlated to higher matriculation,
meaning more students who were
admitted to the University from
lower-income schools decided to
attend.
Of the 239 schools on the list with
data on their free/reduced lunch
programs, 17.5% of their students
qualify for free or reduced lunch
— far below the 2017-2018 U.S.
national average of 53%. For schools
on the list with more than 17.5% of
students on free or reduced lunch,
52% of admitted students chose to
attend.
At schools with less than 17.5% of
students on free or reduced lunch,
only 40% of admitted students
chose
to
attend.
With
less
students on free or reduced
lunch, these schools are
likely in higher income
areas.
This
difference
could point to the
success of the Go
Blue
Guarantee,
a
marketing
program
that
began advertising
in
2018
what
the
school
has
promised for more
than a decade: In-state
students whose family
income
is
below
$65,000 and with assets
below $50,000 will not pay
anything toward tuition for four
years. University President Mark
Schlissel has said in the past that
the purpose of this initiative was to
increase socioeconomic diversity on
the Ann Arbor campus.
But the higher yield rate among
lower-income
schools
is
still
surprising given the relatively high
cost of attendance at the University.
LSA, the University’s largest school,
has an in-state tuition between
$15,000 and $18,000 depending
on class standing. Without aid, the
University’s Ann Arbor campus has
the most expensive tuition out of
all public colleges in the state. Still,
Bruce said that in-state families
consider the University a “huge
value” because it is notably less
expensive than the sticker prices
of many out-of-state or private
institutions.
For example, out-of-state tuition
at the University ranges between
$52,000 and $56,000 per year
depending on class level — more
than double the $21,000 average
cost of tuition for an out-of-state,
public college, according to U.S.
News.
White students are
overrepresented at high schools
with high application volume
277 schools on The Daily’s list
provided demographic data. Of
these
schools,
white
students
make up the majority at four out of
every five schools. This shows that
the current demographics of the
undergraduate population — which
is majority white — are unlikely to
significantly shift.
White
students
currently
make up approximately 55% of
the
undergraduate
community,
whereas just under 68% of the 277
schools are majority white. This
does not mean that every student
who enrolls from these schools
is
white,
but
it
does
show that many of the schools the
University pulls heavily from have
more white students filling their
classrooms than minority students.
Out of these 277 schools, only
one school is a majority multirace,
four are majority Hispanic, 24
are majority Asian and four are
majority Black. Three out of the
four schools that have a majority
Black population are in Michigan.
Most majority Asian schools are in
California, New Jersey and New
York, and most majority Hispanic
schools are in Illinois.
Schools have noticeably
higher family incomes than
average
Students at these 301 schools
have higher family incomes than
both state and national averages.
The average median household
income for the Michigan public
schools on this list is just over
$75,000, about 20% higher than
the average Michigan household
income of $57,000.
The average median household
income
for
out-of-state
public
schools on our list is just over
$128,000 — almost double the
national household median income
of $69,000.
These
numbers
are
not
surprising given that the average
family income of a student at the
University is $154,000. Nine times
more students at the University
come from families with household
incomes in the top 5% nationally
than the bottom 20%, according to a
2017 New York Times study.
But The Daily’s data shows that
the feeder schools the University
looks to in filling its incoming class
every year even further skew upper-
class. These schools typically have
more resources, such as more robust
Advanced
Placement
offerings
and access to standardized test
preparation, that make attending a
selective college more accessible.
But just because students
from higher socioeconomic
backgrounds
enroll
at
the University doesn’t
mean
there
are
disproportionate
recruitment
efforts
for them, said Paul
Robinson,
interim
vice provost for the
Office of Enrollment
Management
and
University
registrar.
Robinson wrote in an
email to The Daily that the
undergraduate admissions
team visits 500 in-state high
schools and 500 out-of-state high
schools that represent a wide range
of income levels in a typical year.
On top of this, the team visits an
additional 500 college fairs and
family nights, he said.
“The schools and students we
interact with represent a diverse
spectrum of identities, experiences
and
perspectives,”
Robinson
wrote. “In fact, the intended
purposes of programs like the Go
Blue Guarantee and the HAIL
Scholarship are to engage and
financially support students and
families who may believe a U-M
education is out of their reach
and who often come from schools
or
communities
that
haven’t
traditionally sent us students.”
The disparity between the
two matriculation rates suggests
that
students
from
lower
socioeconomic status districts are
more likely to accept their offer
of admission from the University
than students from more affluent
areas. Though there is no concrete
answer as to why this is, The Daily
talked to several current U-M
students from lower-income areas
across the state, and found their
decisions to attend the University
were all predominantly based
on two things: affordability and
financial aid.
HAIL! open doors for
disadvantaged students
The HAIL scholarship program
was first announced in 2015 to
attempt to increase socioeconomic
diversity at the University’s Ann
Arbor campus. In an email to The
Daily, University spokeswoman
Kim Broekhuizen wrote that the
scholarship continues to be offered
annually
to
high-achieving,
in-state, low-income students who
are selected using data provided to
the University through a special
memorandum by the Michigan
Department of Education.
More than 1,000 students have
accepted the full-tuition HAIL
scholarship over the past five
years. A 2018 paper co-authored
by Public Policy professor Susan
Dynarski
revealed
that
the
scholarship originated as a social
experiment in which the financial
aid that low-income students
would already have been entitled
to was simply “re-packaged” in
personalized, eye-catching maize
and blue striped envelopes. The
students’
financial
aid
offers
were advertised as a whole new
scholarship which was guaranteed
to them upon admittance to the
University.
“Students in the study would
have been eligible for at least free
tuition and fees in the absence of
this intervention,” Dynarski wrote
in the research paper.
Though the HAIL scholarship
did not provide any new financial
aid, both the results of the study
and personal attestations from
students who are currently part of
the HAIL program emphasize its
undeniable effect on encouraging
lower-income
students
to
matriculate.
LSA
sophomore
Brittney
Schaefer,
HAIL
scholarship
recipient, was the first student
from Charlton Heston Academy
in St. Helen, Mich., to be accepted
into any Big Ten school. Besides
her scholarship and acceptance
becoming a local symbol of the
opportunities available to students
from Charlton Heston, Schaefer
said
HAIL
was
personally
meaningful because it financially
allowed her to honor a promise
she had made to her mother, who
passed away when she was 13.
“When I was 12, I always told
(my mom) that I was going to U
of M, because when you’re a kid
you’ll say anything,” Schaefer said.
“So my first thought when I got the
scholarship and got in was, ‘I’m
actually going to fulfill my promise
to her.’”
Schaefer said if she had not
received the notice that she had
gotten the HAIL scholarship prior
to the early action deadline, her
financial situation would have
discouraged her from applying to
the University altogether. Now,
however, Schaefer said she could
not imagine who she would be
without the experiences she has
gained as a Wolverine.
“(Attending
the
University)
has definitely taken me out of my
comfort zone and has given me the
education and the opportunities
that I really wanted,” Schaefer
said. “It’s just opening so many
doors for me.”
LSA senior Caleb Adams, who
attended Bark River-Harris High
School in Harris, Mich., also
received the HAIL scholarship.
As just one of the two students
who applied to the University from
his graduating class of 37, Adams
echoed Schaefer’s gratitude for the
scholarship, which also enabled
him to financially consider the
University as a post-secondary
option.
“I grew up a Michigan fan, but
I didn’t consider going to college
there before (the scholarship),”
Adams said. “Now, Michigan has
sent me to Amsterdam to study
abroad. Last fall I had lunch with
George Bush’s Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice. Opportunities
like that I just wouldn’t have had
at other universities.”
Though Schaefer and Adams
account for just two data points
in
Dynarski’s
massive
study,
their experiences corroborate the
overall trend. In the conclusion
section of the published
study,
Dynarski
wrote
that
students
who
received
the
HAIL
scholarship
packet were more than twice as
likely to apply and enroll at the
University as in-state students in
similar socioeconomic situations
who were not sent personalized
financial aid information or a
scholarship.
“We
conclude
that
an
encouragement to apply, paired
with a promise of aid, when
communicated
to
students
and
influential
adults,
can
substantially close income gaps in
college choices,” Dynarski wrote.
Go Blue Guarantee
strives to encourage greater
socioeconomic diversity
According
to
University
President Mark Schlissel, the
HAIL
research
project
was
instrumental in designing the
program he would be most proud
of implementing within his first
five years as president: the Go
Blue Guarantee. Going into effect
in the Winter 2018 semester,
the guarantee has since ensured
free tuition to admitted in-state
students whose total household
income is up to $65,000 with
assets of up to $50,000.
Like the HAIL scholarship, the
Go Blue Guarantee was not the
result of additional financial aid to
lower-income students, but merely
an advertising campaign
to more effectively
communicate
existing
aid
opportunities.
The philosophy behind
the guarantee was derived from
HAIL’s success with increasing
low-income student application
rates
by
advertising
specific
financial
aid
promises
when
high school students begin the
college application process, but
the Go Blue Guarantee aims to
do this on an even more massive
scale. Whereas HAIL promises
full-tuition to a selected few, the
Go Blue Guarantee means that
anyone who meets the guarantee’s
residency, admission and financial
need requirements automatically
knows they will have their tuition
covered by the University.
University spokeswoman Kim
Broekhuizen wrote in an email
to The Daily that the University
is attempting to replicate HAIL’s
efficacy regarding informative,
personalized
mail
with
the
guarantee by increasing student
awareness about the program
statewide.
“We… mail a brochure to in-state
high school juniors describing
Michigan’s
affordability
and
the
Go
Blue
Guarantee
to
create greater awareness of the
initiative,” Broekhuizen wrote.
“There is also a robust marketing
campaign to increase awareness
among Michigan residents of the
GBG.”
LSA junior Miranda Santos said
she was first made aware of the
Go Blue Guarantee when she saw
a U-M Facebook advertisement
for it while she was a student
at Pinconning High School in
Pinconning, Mich. Santos said
she had not seriously considered
college altogether for most of her
life since no one in her family
had gone to a university, and the
graduates she knew from her high
school typically dropped out for
financial reasons after a year or
two.
“I didn’t have money, so college
was something that wasn’t even
on my mind until my junior year,”
Santos said. “Then finding out
about (the guarantee) and that I
don’t have to pay for tuition was
just like, holy crap, I can actually
get a degree.”
Additionally, Fernando Barrera,
a college advisor for Lincoln
Park High School — where at
least 50% of students qualify for
free or reduced lunch — said the
Go Blue Guarantee inherently
sends a supportive message to his
students.
“A lot of times, students from
low-income backgrounds may feel
daunted by going to big universities
like Michigan and think that there
aren’t going to be other people that
come from similar backgrounds,”
Barrera said. “These types of
programs create a more welcoming
environment.”
But there has been activism
to
expand
the
guarantee’s
“welcoming
environment”
to
include the University’s Dearborn
and Flint campuses, which have
more lower-income students as
well as more minority students.
The One University Campaign, a
coalition of students and faculty
who advocate for equity across
U-M’s
three
campuses,
has
protested for GBG’s expansion
for more than a year. In January,
the Senate Advisory Committee
on University Affairs voted in
support of 1U’s initiative.
As of the end of February,
however, there have been no new
conversations on the topic. When
asked about the possibility of
expanding the Go Blue Guarantee
to the other two campuses,
Broekhuizen wrote to The Daily
that the program was created
specifically with the Ann Arbor
campus in mind.
“The Go Blue Guarantee was
created to address a specific
concern — increasing access to the
Ann Arbor campus by students
from more diverse socioeconomic
families,”
Broekhuizen
wrote.
“The program is designed to
help those students overcome
the perceived barriers that they
cannot afford UM-Ann Arbor
whose tuition and fees are greater
than that of UM-Dearborn and
UM-Flint.”
For
now,
LSA
sophomore
Andrea
Behrmann,
who
is
also a recipient of the Go Blue
Guaranteed,, said she just feels
fortunate that her hard work in
high school and college will pay
off with a reputable degree and
fewer student loans.
“Overall (the guarantee) is just
so important for reaching people
who grew up in lower-income
area communities,” Behrmann
said. “It gives students like me the
same opportunity to go to U of M
as anyone else.”
Daily Staff Reporter Roni Kane
can be reached at ronikane@
umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
4 — Wednesday, March 3, 2021
SCHOLARSHIPS
From Page 1
AP/IB
From Page 1
APPLICANTS
From Page 1
41 of the top 301
schools offered IB —
13.6% — 11% higher
than the overall
national average
1 in 10 members of
the 2019 University of
Michigan freshman class
came from just 10 high
schools
The GBG offers free
tuition to in-state students
from families with a
household income up to
$65,000
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Rina Hou, Kinesiology and
LSA freshman, attended the
International
Academy
IB
school in Troy, Mich. Hou
said she believes the program
definitely helped her get into the
University.
“Their whole goal is to
make sure that you’re a
well-rounded student so
that your application
stands out,” Hou said.
Kinesiology
freshman
Regan
Lee took eight AP
classes
in
high
school. She said her
choice to take AP
courses over regular
classes most likely
made her appealing as
a candidate.
“I think colleges like
to see that you want to get
ahead in your studies,” Lee
said. “Especially in the fields
that you’re interested in. For
example, I wanted to go pre-
med, so I took AP Bio.”
Erica Sanders, director of
undergraduate
admissions,
wrote in an email to The Daily
that
admissions
officers
do
take into account how many
challenging courses a student
took
in
high
school
when
reviewing
their
application.
However, Sanders emphasized
that the University also looks at
applicants’ extracurricular and
co-curricular activities.
“We encourage students to
challenge themselves in the areas
where they do their best work
academically,” Sanders wrote.
“While also allowing themselves
the opportunity to engage in
extracurricular
activities
or
other responsibilities — part-
time jobs, volunteer work and
assistance with responsibilities
at home — that create a well-
rounded student.”
AP versus IB
As IB gains popularity in the
U.S., more students will have the
opportunity to choose between
the program and the typical AP
curriculum.
Hou said she thinks the IB
program is a lot less flexible
than taking AP classes.
“When you’re in an IB school,
you don’t have a lot of choice,”
Hou said. “You just have to
take all the required courses —
there’s little room for your own
choice. For AP, you really get to
choose and decide what to take
for college credit.”
LSA junior Julia Trautmann
disagreed, saying IB fostered a
range of skills not included in
the AP program.
“It’s
so
interdisciplinary
and requires so much time
management
and
projects
outside of your core classes,”
Trautmann said. “I do think it
helps a lot and could become
more popular in the future.”
Sanders
wrote
that
all
college-level high school courses
— including AP and IB classes
— are seen as equally rigorous
on
a
prospective
student’s
application.
“AP, IB and dual enrollment
coursework are all evaluated
as
advanced
curriculum
selections,”
Sanders
wrote.
“That, when selected in the
areas where the student does
their best work, can enhance the
student’s application.”
Preparation for the
University of Michigan
Trautmann said being an IB
student prepared her for college
in ways other programs could
not have.
“We had a lot of verbal
assessments and there were a lot
of written assignments too, so I
thought it definitely helped with
public speaking and writing
skills,” Trautmann said.
Sanders agreed, noting in
her email that participation
in
college-level
classes
can
be important preparation for
succeeding in introductory-level
courses at the University.
“Success
in
college
prep
coursework,
which
includes
advanced curriculum selections
like AP, Honors, IB and dual-
enrollment courses can assist
students by introducing the
rigor and pace that is similar to
introductory college courses,”
Sanders wrote.
Lee said she felt her AP
experience
in
high
school
prepared her for the rigor of
college and allowed her to enter
freshman year with credits to
use toward her degree.
“I feel pretty well
prepared to be here,
especially because I
did receive a decent
amount of credit
for all of my AP
exams,” Lee said.
“So,
that
was
definitely helpful
to get ahead and
… it allowed me
to not have to go
through
all
the
prereqs.”
On campus, there
has also been discussion
about
the
benefits
of
AP and other college credit
receiving courses from high
schools, particularly because the
University’s class registration
system allows students with
a higher number of credits to
register
earlier,
advantaging
students who’ve taken AP or IB.
What if neither program
was available?
School districts located in
rural areas, areas with a lower
average family income or areas
with a higher percentage of racial
minorities often have difficulty
funding programs like AP and
IB. As a result, some students
said they did not have access
to these advanced courses in
high school at all, making them
feel underprepared compared
to students from larger or
wealthier school districts.
Recent LSA graduate Clare
Mayes attended a high school
in rural southwest Michigan
that offered only one AP class.
Mayes, whose graduating class
was only 63 people, said the lack
of access to advanced courses
led her to struggle academically
when came to the University.
“I came in feeling really
underprepared,” Mayes said. “I
really struggled in a lot of intro
courses that it seemed like a lot
of my peers had already been
exposed to because they had
been in AP classes or anything
like that.”
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com