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