CU improving recruitment, retention of low-income students

Colorado has improved in providing collegiate opportunities to students from low-income families, according to a new report.

The report, released by College In Colorado on March 7, states that the number of students from low-income families boosted from 17.2 percent in fiscal year 2002 to 25.4 percent in fiscal year 2005. The growth ranks Colorado second in the nation for change in college participation rates.

College In Colorado is a state-instituted effort to improve college access and change expectations about college for all Colorado students, particularly low-income and minority students.

Possible reasons for the growth include devices used by college admissions offices to attract more low-income students.

“We have a tremendous amount of outreach for low-income students,” said Kevin MacLennan, director of CU admissions. “We’re trying to promote diversity in the true sense of the word, meaning academic, geographical, gender, race and financial diversity.”

MacLennan said CU has a “need-blind” admissions office, which means they do not assess the applicants based on their income levels.

“This year, we have about 40 programs targeted at under-represented students on the Boulder campus,” MacLennan said.

According to Lou McClelland, CU’s director of institutional analysis, there are two standard ways to define a student as “low-income” in the state of Colorado. One is based on the expected family contribution from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and the other is based on household size and income.

For More Information
The Mortenson Report: www.postsecondary.org College in Colorado: www.collegeincolorado.org CU Promise Program: http://www.colorado.edu/finaid/promise.html

Colorado Commission on Higher Education: http://www.state.co.us/cche/

In recent years, the CU financial aid office has implemented several new initiatives to assist low-income students, one of them being the CU Promise Program. This program is a financial aid award package that includes a combination of grants, scholarships and a work-study award sufficient to fund the student share of tuition, fees and estimated book expenses.

“In addition, we are required to put 20 percent of a tuition increase over inflation into need-based aid,” said Gwen Pomper, director of CU’s financial aid office. “This requirement began a few years ago, and the grant aid is targeted to low-income populations, as determined by the FAFSA.”

Pomper also said CU Chancellor Bud Peterson and President Hank Brown are committed to increasing access to low-income students.

According to the report, Colorado’s increase in overall college participation rates for students from low-income families equals that of the national average of 25.4 percent, although nationally there is still a 12.6 percent participation gap between all 18- to 24-year-olds and those from low-income families.

CU and Colorado as a whole are trying to make the college opportunity easier for all of them.

“Our mission is to provide educational opportunities for all students,” said Ron Stump, vice chancellor of student affairs. “Low-income students are not disadvantaged academically, only financially, and they add as much to our learning environment as anyone else.”

Contact Campus Press staff writer Tim McAvoy at [email protected]