La Casa, a student group on campus, issued a statement on recent changes to financial aid. They observe that these changes have likely had an impact on Latinx student enrollment. Their full statement is included below this message.
In the Fall of 2019, the Office of Enrollment Management drastically changed the financial support provided to low-income out-of-state students, a decision that would impact incoming first-years beginning with the Class of 2024. The Office of Enrollment Management replaced the Provost Award––a grant that meets the full demonstrated need for eligible out-of-state students––with the Victors Award, which only provides $8,000 yearly to eligible out-of-state students.
Prior to this decision, the University community witnessed a significant increase in Latinx enrollment beginning in 2013. In fact, the University’s 2019 incoming class had a record number of 518 Latinx students (approximately 7.94%) out of a total class of 6,525 students.
In its first year of implementation, the University’s new aid policy resulted in a severe decrease in incoming Latinx student enrollment. The University’s incoming class had 85 fewer Latinx students (a 16% decrease from the previous year), even though the overall incoming class increased from 2019 to 2020.
Brilliant Latinx students who gained acceptance to U-M and were most in need of financial support received vastly reduced financial aid packages that left them little to no choice of attending U-M. While this decision was made prior to the onslaught of a global pandemic, there was no alteration to the policy in subsequent months, even though COVID-19 continues to savagely and disproportionately impact the Latinx community.
More so, the new policy goes directly against the University’s efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion. Instead, the policy sends a concerning message to the Latinx community and prospective out-of-state students who experience financial hardship that the University of Michigan is not accessible.
Since its founding, La Casa has remained active and open to partnering with the University to create positive change on campus and offering support on a number of University-wide initiatives. In spite of La Casa’s attempts at participation in the recruitment and support of all students on campus, the Office of Enrollment Management has failed to reciprocate support for U-M’s Latinx community. Conversations with the Office of Enrollment Management indicated that there was no intention to change this policy and no solidified plan to address the lack of support.
In serving the Latinx community and its current and future members, La Casa urges the University to immediately reverse the policy and return to a financial aid model that fully supports low-income out-of-state students.
