Now that the University has admitted its first class under an enhanced financial aid policy, it is clear the changes are affecting a significant number of students.
At Tuesday's meeting of the Brown University Community Council, Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 addressed the effect of the boost to financial aid approved by the Corporation in February, and provided new data on the financial aid makeup of the student body.
The number of students whose families do not have to make a contribution to tuition, for example - those earning less than $60,000 a year, under the new policy - has jumped from 284 to 818. Also, a greater number of students will not have loans in their financial aid packages this year, Kertzer said - 1,479, up from 143 last year. Sixty-one percent of students on financial aid, Kertzer said, will leave Brown debt-free.
The Council meeting also included discussion of the University's upcoming re-accreditation visit by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the institutional self-study it has prepared in advance of it. Brown will have the opportunity to take stock of its institutions and curriculum, President Ruth Simmons said.
The University is accredited every 10 years by NEASC, whose purview runs the gamut of educational institutions, from elementary schools, to community colleges, to private universities. NEASC evaluates institutions based on 11 standards, which include the undergraduate academic program, faculty and financial resources. "It's not a grade," Simmons said. "It will be a narrative report and they will tell us what they think. It's an opportunity for us to learn how we're seen."
The University has put together a description, appraisal and projection for each of the 11 standards, said Associate Provost and Director of Institutional Diversity Brenda Allen, who led the effort. Undergraduate education is a special focus of Brown's self-study, and the process has been informed by the Task Force for Undergraduate Education's report, Allen said.
Copies of the self-study will be made available to the Brown community for feedback in early October, before they are submitted to NEASC in January. NEASC representatives, who are educators at other schools, will visit in April.
The visiting committee will go through a rigorous process of interviews while on campus in order to learn as much as possible about the University, Simmons said. "As an institution, we have the public's trust," she said. "People are trying to ascertain whether we are honoring that."
Those present at the meeting Tuesday also discussed the current housing shortage, caused by an unusually large freshman class. Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, said the increased class size has impacted both first-year and upperclass housing. She said that creating new space for first-years is "tricky" because of the unit configuration in dorms, which led to the relocation of some upperclassmen.
Lounges, kitchens and other common spaces were transformed into bedrooms across campus. Wriston Quadrangle, home to over 900 students, does not have a single remaining kitchen, Klawunn said.
The University experiences a natural attrition each semester and will relocate students accordingly, which will enable the Office of Residential Life to re-open lounges and common spaces, Klawunn said.
After some meeting attendees raised concerns about the lack of lounges in first-year units, Klawunn reiterated that moving students out of lounges is "our priority as well."
