News

Financial Aid nabs top ranking for satisfaction

Leading the list, college is awarded first in ‘Great Financial Aid’ by the Princeton Review

In print | August 27, 2009

While Swarthmore has often been forgotten amongst more well-known schools, in the past year, it has spent some time in the limelight by virtue of another aspect of college rankings that is becoming increasingly important: affordability.

Last month, the college was ranked as first for “Great Financial Aid” in the Princeton Review’s “The Best 371 Colleges.” In the ranking, there was no distinction between colleges and universities, public and private — they were all compared together, landing Swarthmore ahead of leading private universities like Harvard, top public universities like the University of Virginia and its fellow small liberal arts colleges, like Williams.

Robert Franek, Senior Vice President and Publisher of the Princeton Review as well as the author of the book, said that the rankings were determined completely by students’ responses to one question. In the case of “Great Financial Aid,” the question was, “If you receive financial aid, how satisfied are you with your financial aid package?”

Dean of Admissions Jim Bock ’90 said that the ranking was indicative of the type of egalitarian and united community Swarthmore aims to foster.

“I think it’s wonderful in large part because it’s a ranking that surveyed students,” Bock said. “These were our students saying positive things about their experience here with the office [and] with the amount of financial aid.”

Swarthmore was also one of 13 schools to receive a perfect score of 99 in the book’s “2010 Financial Aid Rating Honor Roll,” which is based primarily on institutional data. All of this comes off the heels of The Princeton Review’s January ranking of Swarthmore at the top of its “Best Value Private Colleges.” Franek said that this 100-college list, which rated 50 private schools and 50 public schools, was based on quantitative data and on more than 30 data points, such as academics, cost and financial aid.

But while the college says that it enjoys the recognition of rankings, it also tries to distance itself from them.

“It’s nice to hear, but it’s not very meaningful,” Director of Financial Aid Laura Talbot said.
Bock agreed, calling them “incomplete” because there’s “no way to capture what’s true and wonderful about … any college.”

“I can’t tell you how many ‘Why Swarthmore?’ essays I read that tell me, ‘Oh, you’re number x in whatever ranking, which means I’m going to get a good job, so I want to come to your college. Please admit me,’” Bock said. Bock added that that particular breed of applicant was discouraged.
According to Talbot, rankings don’t directly influence the way the colleges runs so much as affirm what it already believes.

“We know that our program is strong. We know that our reading of files is sensitive and responsive,” Talbot said. “We hope that students are satisfied.”

Talbot stressed that, although the economy has hurt college endowments and set back college programs, Swarthmore has stayed committed this academic year to its loan-free financial aid program that vows to fully meet the demonstrated need of each student.

“It’s a continuing commitment that we meet students’ demonstrated financial needs. … It’s a choice,” Talbot said.

The expenditure in the college’s scholarships has gone up twelve percent in just one year. To date, the student body’s average need is $35,802, which is also the average financial aid award for this academic year. Last year, both numbers were $32,872. There hasn’t been a significant increase in the number of students who receive financial aid, only the amount provided to those students.
While the case has been made that too much weight is attributed to college rankings, Bock said they can nevertheless provide “access points” for high school students and “give names to schools that many students may not have even considered.” What students end up doing with that information is what’s important, Bock said.

General knowledge of rankings, too, could change the way a student goes about college applications.

A few years ago, Franek and others from the Princeton Review asked soon-to-be undergraduate students and their parents for their biggest fear about college. Students and parents were “united in one fear: get into your top choice school, but not be able to afford it,” Franek said. According to Franek, this fear, combined especially with this past year’s recession, too often makes people cross off schools like Swarthmore because of their almost $50,000 price tags.

“That seems such a tragic flaw,” Franek said. “The extraordinary news is that Swarthmore can do the near impossible.”

Bock asserted that while it’s certainly not guaranteed that you’ll be accepted and get the financial aid package of your dreams, Swarthmore nevertheless shouldn’t be ruled out strictly by price.

“Far too many people take schools like Swarthmore off the list because they perceive they will not be able to afford it,” Bock said. “In reality, we could be the most affordable option.”
For the Princeton Review’s 62 rankings, there were 122,000 college students surveyed, with an average of 350 students per school.

At the time of interview, Franek said that he did not know how many Swarthmore students were surveyed.

When asked if the group of students was self-selecting in any way, he said that they are in the sense that they have all decided to answer the survey knowing that it will be used in Princeton Review’s annual report. Each year the Princeton Review gets in touch with students by building a rapport with administrators.

To preserve the integrity of the survey, Princeton Review requires students to use their school e-mail addresses to log in. Franek stressed that “any student could come [online] and take the survey” at Princeton Review’s website.