Many colleges have started taking action to increase not only cultural and ethnic diversity but economic diversity as well. According to The New York Times, over the past few years the number of students from low-income and middle-class families attending universities and colleges has decreased, suggesting that while racial diversity may be increasing, economic diversity is not.
Several schools, most notably Harvard University, have taken drastic steps to promote economic diversity. In February, Harvard announced plans to no longer ask families that make less than $40,000 a year to contribute to paying for the cost of tuition; rather than asking students to take out loans, the college will provide scholarships to cover the costs.
Bowdoin does not have such a policy in place, but Jim Miller, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, stressed that encouraging economic diversity has been historically important to the College and remains a critical priority.
"We don't have the same kind of policy here, but some financial aid is offered for low-income students specifically to reduce loans," he said. "The Harvard program has received a lot of publicity for its new financial aid offering. Part of it is that Harvard is trying to increase the number of low-income students that go there. But at Bowdoin, we've had a long tradition of admitting and recruiting first-generation college students and students of low income, particularly students from the state of Maine."
Miller also noted that the Bowdoin seeks talented, low-income students from across the country. "Over the past few years, we've been reaching out to students in other states, visiting non-traditional 'feeder schools' where a [lower] percentage of students go on to college. There's a lot of individual outreach efforts. We've made a conscious effort to make college more diverse in every way."
Admissions officers at Bowdoin have become particularly aware of the importance of having a diverse student body and a variety of opinions represented on campus. Miller noted that one important way to increase the diversity of viewpoints on campus is to continue admitting students from different socio-economic backgrounds.
"One advantage [to having students from low-income, middle-class, and upper-class families] is that people really do learn from each other. Education can change people's lives fundamentally. By letting first generation college students in, we also affect future generations. There is also value in bringing in sophisticated and wealthy students. There is enormous value, a synergy, in mixing people with different perspectives."
However, Miller said that all admitted students should still possess one similar characteristic. "All students have one thing in common: They're smart," he said. "After that, everyone brings in a different perspective."
Last year, Bowdoin awarded over $14,000,000 in grant aid and more than $2,000,000 in need-based jobs and loans.
Miller emphasized the importance of offering this kind of aid. "We feel obligated to respond to students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, or from a family where college has not been a part [of tradition]," he said. "We've seen an increase in the last four or five years in students receiving financial aid, which is the result of an increase in the number of lower income students."
When asked about the possibly detrimental effects of more low-income or middle-class students on the College's monetary resources, Miller was not overly concerned. "There's no predicting what will happen after coming out of here; people can start off from all different backgrounds and go on to do great things," he said. "We want people to learn from each other and we want to give them opportunities here and beyond Bowdoin."
Miller said that the College would continue to strive to increase economic diversity by continuing to recruit lower-income students. "Economic diversity remains a critical priority, and we want to make sure that we are finding and bringing in students from across different socio-economic backgrounds because talent is not determined by income," he said. "Financial aid keeps the doors open for talented students, which is paramount."