Colleges offer financial aid to gain diversity in student body

Published: 2007-08-20

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- For parents of college-age children, the start of a new school year may mean an empty wallet along with an empty nest. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the median tuition at a four-year school was $7,490 for the 2006-07 school year. The figure includes private and state-run schools, some of which charge in-state students very low tuition. The median tuition at private schools was $15,900, with the more expensive colleges costing more than $30,000 a year. The numbers do not include room and board and other fees that can carry high price tags, such as textbook purchases and travel expenses. The high cost of college has made it difficult for lower-income students to afford it. Most schools have some form of financial aid, and the government provides grants to needy students and will pay the interest on a student loan and defer payments for those who qualify financially. But some Catholic schools are taking extra measures to help students better afford college tuition. Dominican-run Providence College in Rhode Island, in an effort to attract minority and first-generation college students and to put less emphasis on test scores, has made submission of scores from SAT and ACT -- traditional college entrance exams -- optional. Providence's incoming freshman class is the first that did not have to submit scores. Christopher Lydon, the school's associate vice president for admission and enrollment planning, said the move reflects the school's philosophy that grades and extracurricular activities matter more than test scores. In the first year that Providence dropped the SAT requirement, applications swelled by about 1,000, Lydon told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview.

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