Study's "Alchemy of Averages" Produces Smoke, Not Light
By President Richard J. Cook
The road to the Lumina Foundation's study "Unequal Opportunity: Disparities in College Access Among the 50 States" was paved with good intentions.
The year-old Lumina Foundation set out to shed light on the accessibility and affordability of colleges and universities, to create a comprehensive report that policymakers could use as they explore ways to place higher education within the reach of every American.
Unfortunately, by employing a questionable methodology - the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities quite rightly calls it "a specious statistical exercise drawing upon incomplete and oversimplified data" - the survey hurts the very people it was intended to help: students and their families who are looking for an affordable quality education.
If the report is to be believed, of 1,142 independent colleges across the nation, only 125 are "affordable" to low-income students. This finding flies in the face of the facts and serves only to discourage students and families who need help funding a college education - in short, most Americans.
In fact, it is impossible to reconcile the study's findings with the reality of college campuses today, where the average family income of students who attend private colleges and universities is lower than that of students who attend flagship public institutions.
An even more telling fact is that not only do students from across the economic spectrum enroll in independent colleges and universities, but they graduate four years later at a rate significantly higher than that of their peers at state institutions. Fewer than a quarter of all undergraduates enroll at independent colleges and universities, and yet those same institutions produce almost a third of college graduates. Furthermore, this represents an enormous savings to taxpayers.
For those of us who work in higher education to believe what the Lumina study tells us would be to ignore what we see on our campuses every day. College campuses are populated by students from every economic stratum - the wealthy, the middle-income and the poor - and we work hard to ensure that this is so.
As the government has cut financial aid to students, colleges and universities across the nation have stepped up their own efforts to ensure that higher education remains affordable for deserving students. In 1999-2000, independent institutions spent $8 billion of their own resources for student financial aid - more money than federal and state grant aid to these students combined. Each year my own institution gives more than $18 million in aid - a sizable portion of our budget - to students who would otherwise find it difficult to attend Allegheny College.
Eighty-four percent of full-time undergraduates at four-year independent institutions received some form of student aid in 1999-2000, with an average award of $14,000. That figure represents a remarkable 28 percent jump over the average award of only four years earlier and is an indication of just how committed independent institutions are to keeping quality education affordable.
This aid can completely change the landscape for students surveying their possibilities for higher education. If tuition at a student's college of choice seems prohibitive given a family's financial circumstances, it is important for them to keep in mind that at many independent colleges fewer than 10 percent of full-time students pay full tuition. The average family ends up paying almost a third less than the stated cost of tuition. Families with the greatest financial need pay only 26 percent on average.
Where does the Lumina report go wrong? The report's flaws run deep, as David Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, points out. "The report does not use actual financial aid information for different types of students," he notes. "Instead, it assumes that low-income students 'would get no worse than the average-size institutional grant aid' award. The possibility that low-income students might receive more than the average award is not even considered."
In addition, by the researchers' own admission, they ignored actual student experience: the fact that large numbers of students from middle- and low-income families do indeed attend-and graduate from-the very schools that the report finds unaffordable. When their oversimplified statistics contradicted the facts, the Lumina researchers chose not to look beyond their numbers.
David Warren calls the Lumina report "an alchemy of averages." The sad fact is that it's an alchemy that produces more smoke than light.
Is it easy for middle- and low-income families to afford college educations for their children? I don't know of anyone who would argue that it is. But is a college education affordable for these students? Yes, it is. And any report that discourages students and their families from exploring their options for higher education does them, and our nation, a grave disservice.
