The New York Times ranked Hopkins as slightly above average in economic diversity among top American colleges in their first College Access Index.
The index, published on Monday on “The Upshot,” The Times’ blog for news, analysis and data visualization, looked at the average share of each school’s freshman class from 2012 to 2014 that received Pell grants, along with the net attendance prices for low- to-middle-income families, which was defined as “households earning between $30,000 and $48,000 a year and qualifying for federal aid,” including loans and work-study wages.
Hopkins received a score of 0.4 on the College Access Index; a score of 0 signifies an average score. Vassar College, the top-scoring school on the index, received a 3.1, while Whitman College received the lowest score of -3.0.
On average, 14 percent of the past three Hopkins freshman classes were Pell grant recipients, and the listed net price for low- to-middle-income families was $8,600.
“I was pleased to see that our net cost for low- and middle-income families is in the lower third among the 75 or so very high-performing schools on The New York Times’ list,” Provost Robert Lieberman wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Lieberman asserted that increasing the economic diversity of the student body is a priority for the University.
“Student financial aid is a high priority of our ‘Rising to the Challenge’ [fundraising] campaign,” Lieberman wrote. “[An average ranking is] not something to be satisfied with. We are working very hard at it.”
U.S. News and World Report also ranked Hopkins on economic diversity, awarding the University the 19th spot on its “Best Value Colleges” list. That list measured the average net cost for a student receiving financial aid against each school’s overall ranking on the Best Colleges list.
“We are working to make a Johns Hopkins education more accessible and an even more valuable experience for our students,” Lieberman wrote.
This year, the combined $80 million undergraduate financial aid budget for the Krieger School of Arts and Science and the Whiting School of Engineering set a University record.
The estimated cost for a freshman student living in a double-occupancy room in the AMRs to attend the University during the 2014-15 academic year is $64,679, according to figures posted on the Student Financial Services website.
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