| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 73.32 |
| Liaison | Heather Albert-Knopp |
| Submission Date | March 1, 2019 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
College of the Atlantic
PA-7: Affordability and Access
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.28 / 4.00 |
Heather
Albert-Knopp Dean of Admission Office of Admission |
Does the institution have policies and programs to make it accessible and affordable to low-income students?:
A brief description of any policies and programs to minimize the cost of attendance for low-income students:
The college's financial aid program is designed to come as close as possible to meeting full financial need for all students, using primarily institutional scholarships and grants. Currently, 97% of first-year student need is met and 96% of need is met for the full student body. College of the Atlantic participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program, and offers a $15,000 scholarship to qualified, admitted students transferring from community colleges. We also have special practices for low-income international students, enabling the college to reimburse or advance funds for travel and other needs. We are part of the Davis United World College Scholars program, where students with financial need who attended one of the 17 United World Colleges around the world are provided an outside need-based Davis Scholarship of up to $20,000, and College of the Atlantic meets 100% of the remaining need for these students.
A brief description of any programs to equip the institution’s faculty and staff to better serve students from low-income backgrounds:
A brief description of the institution’s programs to guide and prepare students and families from low-income backgrounds for higher education:
A brief description of the institution's scholarships for low-income students:
The vast majority of COA's financial aid is in the form of need-based institutional scholarship/grant. More than 30% of our student body is Pell-eligible.
A brief description of the institution’s targeted outreach to recruit students from low-income backgrounds:
We provide travel vouchers to help students pay for their visits to COA, and we also have an Fly-In program for prospective students. We attend several Upward Bound college fairs, we participate in the RaiseMe platform to make financial aid more transparent to students, we recruit in rural and low-income Maine high schools, and we have meet full financial need for select students from Washington County (Maine's poorest county) through the Bahrt Scholarship program.
A brief description of the institution’s other policies or programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students:
We provide robust financial aid counseling, and strive to make our financial aid information and packages as clear and comprehensible as possible.
Does the institution have policies and programs to support non-traditional students?:
A brief description of the institution’s scholarships provided specifically for part-time students:
A brief description of the institution’s on-site child care facility, partnership with a local facility, and/or subsidies or financial support to help meet the child care needs of students:
A brief description of the institution’s other policies and programs to support non-traditional students:
Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (tracking accessibility and affordability)? (If data is not available, select 'No'):
The percentage of entering students that are low-income (0-100):
The graduation/success rate for low-income students (0-100):
On average, the percentage of need that was met for students who were awarded any need-based aid (e.g. as reported to the U.S. Common Data Set initiative, item H2) (0-100):
The percentage of students graduating with no interest-bearing student loan debt or for whom no out-of-pocket tuition is required (i.e. the percentage of graduates who have not taken out interest-bearing loans) (0-100):
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 (0-100):
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
*Percentage of entering students that are low-income is a count of the domestic students receiving Pell-grants. It does not include low-income international students because we have not tracked those data, though the vast majority of our international students would qualify as low-income, and international students currently comprise about 24% of our student body.
*Percentage of entering students that are low-income is a count of the domestic students receiving Pell-grants. It does not include low-income international students because we have not tracked those data, though the vast majority of our international students would qualify as low-income, and international students currently comprise about 24% of our student body.
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.