Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 66.21
Liaison Stephen Ellis
Submission Date June 9, 2023

STARS v2.2

Boston University
PA-8: Affordability and Access

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.56 / 4.00 Stephen Ellis
Director, Data Analytics
BU Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Percentage of need met, on average, for students who were awarded any need-based aid :
95

Percentage of students graduating without student loan debt:
64.30

Percentage of entering students that are low-income:
21.10

Graduation/success rate for low-income students:
87

A brief description of notable policies or programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students:
AffordableBU is a financial aid program that meets the full financial need with loans for students entering as freshmen.

URL: https://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/first-year-students/affordable-bu/

In addition, the University Scholars program meets the full financial need without loans of Pell Grant recipients entering as freshmen

URL: https://www.bu.edu/finaid/types-of-aid/scholarships-grants/need-based/

The Menino merit scholarship program provides at least full-tuition to Boston Public High School (BPHS) students and, if they have need, meets their full need without loans. The BU Community Service Scholarship meets the full need without loans of all BPHS students.

URL: https://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/boston-public-high-school-students/

BU also enrolled two cohorts of 10 students each year in the Posse program, which provides a full-tuition scholarship.

URL: https://www.bu.edu/finaid/types-of-aid/scholarships-grants/merit-based/posse-foundation-scholarship/

Further, through the BU Scholarship Assurance, students are guaranteed the same BU funds plus the percentage of increase to tuition in subsequent years without a need to re-apply.

URL: https://www.bu.edu/finaid/aid-basics/bu-scholarship-assurance/

Finally, BU became a Questbridge School in 2022 and will enroll their first cohort of 30 students whose full cost of attendance will be funded without loans.

URL: https://www.bu.edu/admissions/tuition-aid/scholarships-financial-aid/scholarships-questbridge/"

A brief description of notable policies or programs to support non-traditional students:
Our program offers both open-enrollment and part-time status for evening courses, which are helpful to working adults. Our mean student age is 31 years old.

The MET Student Services Office, which is affiliated with Boston University’s Metropolitan College (MET), has a staff of three academic counselors and a Director who advises non-traditional students on what courses they should take, reviews transcripts from previous colleges attended, and assists them from application to graduation.

Estimated percentage of students that participate in or directly benefit from the institution’s policies and programs to support low-income and non-traditional students:
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Website URL where information about the institution’s accessibility and affordability initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This represents FY2022 BU Metrics.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.