In an attempt to recruit a more diverse student body, Syracuse University will soon roll out a new scholarship specifically for high school valedictorians and salutatorians. But some experts say the scholarship alone won’t be enough to help traditionally underrepresented students gain access to a university whose total cost of attendance will be north of $70,000 in 2018.

Funds for additional scholarships will come as part of SU’s Invest Syracuse initiative, a $100 million plan to improve the the university’s academics and student programs. Just over $15 million has already been raised for scholarships, said Dolan Evanovich, senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience.

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Evanovich said the valedictorian and salutatorian scholarship will help bring high-performing students to SU from underserved communities, including rural and inner-city school districts.

“This really gives us an opportunity to attract and recruit talented students that are very diverse from across the socioeconomic spectrum,” Evanovich said.

Anthony Lising Antonio, an associate professor of education at Stanford University, said students from low-income schools typically lack access to information about the college admissions process, connections to university admissions offices and resources such as college counselors.

“Certainly, higher education institutions themselves probably don’t do enough in terms of outreach and providing information,” Antonio said. “Admissions is this black box process to many, many people.”

That’s where the higher education institutions can step in to recruit students, Antonio added.

Evanovich said SU is already employing strategies to recruit underrepresented students. The Daily Orange reported in March that SU will put a greater emphasis on recruiting students from the southern and western regions of the United States.

“We have very targeted strategies to get into inner-city high schools and also rural high schools so that we can attract a very talented and diverse group of students,” Evanovich said.

N’Dri Assié-Lumumba, a professor of Africana studies at Cornell University, said targeting students through strategic outreach and scholarships are great first steps to help underserved students gain college access. But these efforts may fall short of helping those students succeed in college, she said.

The resources universities provide, such as mental health and housing services, are critical to helping students succeed once they enroll, Assié-Lumumba said.

“It’s not enough to be able to pay or receive a grant or scholarship,” she said. “An important factor is how the university invests in the infrastructure, human infrastructure.”

Carlos Campo, president of Ashland University in Ohio, said he agreed it’s important for universities such as SU to provide support services for minority and underrepresented students.

“In addition to scholarship dollars, which is a good way to start, it’s about reframing the entire institution,” Campo said.

Assigning students personal mentors along with academic mentors can also help them succeed, he said.

Invest Syracuse will be partially funded by a $3,300 tuition premium. Students entering the university in fall 2018 will be the first to pay the premium. While increasing tuition, the university has also pledged to enhance access and affordability through a $40 million fundraising initiative to provide new scholarships to students.

Antonio said the added tuition premium is similar to a method known as the “high aid, high tuition” approach. By having a higher tuition price, the university could also provide larger amounts of aid to students that need it, he added.

He said some students will have the ability to pay larger proportions of the full tuition cost. In theory, the university could funnel some of that money into aid programs so the increased sticker price doesn’t push out applicants who can’t afford it, he added.

With the added premium that pushes SU’s total cost of attendance to more than $70,000, the university could experience a sticker shock problem, Antonio said. Low-income applicants tend to be first-generation college students, he said, so they don’t often come to school with knowledge of financial aid.

Evanovich said the $15 million already raised for financial aid opportunities hasn’t yet been designated to any specific scholarship.

“This scholarship program is going to roll out over the next five years,” Evanovich said.

Published on April 12, 2018 at 12:48 am