Auburn Joins Yale, Princeton, Duke, and Stanford...

[Townhallsavoy]

...in not giving a shit about poor people.  Is this a bad thing?  Why does this article treat this like it's a bad thing?

AUBURN, Alabama -- A new report from The Education Trust (WHO?) ranks Auburn University among the bottom 5 percent of colleges and universities nationally when it comes providing access to lower-income students.

The report, dubbed "Tough Love" by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, is part of an ongoing campaign to close achievement and opportunity gaps nationwide.

It does so by calling out institutions doing the worst jobs (1) providing access to low-income students, (2) ensuring students actually graduate, and (3) ensuring those who do graduate leave with a degree that pays off in the long run.DEFINE THOSE.  THE POOR OR EVERYONE AT THE UNIVERSITY?

The Education Trust points out that roughly $180 billion in federal student aid and tax benefits are provided annually to colleges and universities with virtually not performance requirements attached.

[Download a copy of the 'Tough Love' report here.]

According to the report, just 14 percent of Auburn's 2011 freshmen class were Pell grant recipients and just 13 percent were in 2012, the latest year available from the U.S. Department of Education.

In a statement, Auburn acknowledged it is working to improve the numbers through its ongoing strategic plan.

"We are just now wrapping up the first year of our plan implementation and should know numbers this fall, but preliminary information suggests that the number of Auburn students receiving Pell grants will increase by more than 250 in 2014-15," said university spokesman Mike Clardy.

Many of those making the list with Auburn have one thing in common. They are high performing institutions.

With enrollment capped at 25,000, Auburn's freshman class had the highest average ACT score in the state for a public college in the fall of 2013 with 50 percent of incoming students scoring between a 24 and a 30, according to the USDE.

Other colleges ranked among the bottom 5 percent for accepting Pell grant students included elites like Stanford University, Yale University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, Dartmouth College, Princeton University and Cornell University.

While Auburn officials made no mention of it, The Education Trust report comes as the state struggles to address funding disparities between wealthy and poor school districts in its K-12 system.

A report presented to the Alabama State Board of Education this month noted a significant disparity between wealthy and poor school districts when it comes to per-pupil funding in the state's K-12 system.

That means children living in poorer school districts, who are more likely to come from low-income families, are also likely to have less money available for their educations.

Additionally, a 2012 report by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education showed nearly 5,000 Alabama college students lost their Pell grants that year due to changes in the federal program that provides college funding for low-income students.

Auburn was not the only Alabama school to make one The Education Trust's worst-performers lists.

Concordia College-Selma and ITT Technical Institute-Bessemer were both ranked among the bottom 5 percent in the nation when it comes to ensuring students graduate.

In 2011, CCS, which offers a Christian-based curriculum, had an overall graduation rate, on a four-year weighted average, of just 3.4 percent. In 2012, its graduation rate was 5.5 percent.

Likewise, ITT-Bessemer's overall graduation rate was 9.3 percent in 2011 and 14 percent in 2012, according to the report.

Both of those schools were also among the bottom 5 percent in the nation when it comes to student-loan default rates, which typically mean graduates did not earn enough money to repay their debts, as was Talladega College.

Talladega College's three-year cohort default rate in fiscal 2010, the latest year available, was 36.7 percent, according to the report. That was followed by CCS at 33 percent and ITT-Bessemer at 29.2 percent.

Officials at those schools did not return requests for comment before publication time.

Updated at 9:30 a.m. June 24, 2014 to correct ACT score for Auburn University.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/06/auburn_university_ranked_in_bo.html#incart_m-rpt-2

[GH2001]

Can we define the word "access"?

Because I believe in the literal sense of the word, the access is there. Th ability may not be. And I am not sure how that is Auburn's issue. Or any other school's.

So this report should basically be titled: "which school's students get the least amount of free gubment handouts and how can we villianize said schools?"

How dare a school have a large % of kids who don't start off life getting a free handout! The absurdity!

[The Prowler]

A lot of good football players come from low income families and I'm guessing uat ranks at or near the top of this poll.

[dallaswareagle]

A lot of good football players come from low income families and I'm guessing uat ranks at or near the top of this poll.

Maybe before signing? 

[AUJarhead]

I really disagree with this:

(3) ensuring those who do graduate leave with a degree that pays off in the long run

Through placement services, I had at least 5 interviews before spring break, and had two job offers prior to spring quarter starting.  I accepted an offer the first week of spring quarter.

[GH2001]

I really disagree with this:

Through placement services, I had at least 5 interviews before spring break, and had two job offers prior to spring quarter starting.  I accepted an offer the first week of spring quarter.

Ive found that most studies now are crap and are looking for a predetermined outcome before the "study" even starts. And will skew every measurable and variable used to get that result. This one seems like no exception.

[WiregrassTiger]

Ive found that most studies now are crap and are looking for a predetermined outcome before the "study" even starts. And will skew every measurable and variable used to get that result. This one seems like no exception.

If you are insinuating that the study I commissioned regarding validating my 13" penis has no merit, then you are mistaken. The ruler was legit.

[dallaswareagle]

If you are insinuating that the study I commissioned regarding validating my 13" penis has no merit, then you are mistaken. The ruler was legit.

Turn it around, you are on the metric side.

[Pell City Tiger]

I thought Virginia College and Devry were founded to handle the poor.

[bottomfeeder]

This all started when Bush visited campus and said "Wore Eagles". I'm telling you guys the truth.

[noxin]

This all started when Bush visited campus and said "Wore Eagles". I'm telling you guys the truth.

We've....got.....bush!

[Saniflush]

We've....got.....bush!

That's my Pi.

[GH2001]

Turn it around, you are on the metric side.

Like I said, he skewed the measurable. To get his desired result.

[Godfather]

That's my Pi.

This is bullshit! I want bush, pan down