Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 80.07
Liaison Lindsey Lyons
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

Dickinson College
PA-8: Affordability and Access

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.17 / 4.00 Neil Leary
Director
Center for Sustainability Education
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Percentage of need met, on average, for students who were awarded any need-based aid :
98

Percentage of students graduating without student loan debt:
45

Percentage of entering students that are low-income:
11

Graduation/success rate for low-income students:
84.30

A brief description of notable policies or programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students:

Twenty percent of the full cost of educating a student at Dickinson, roughly $13,000 per student, is funded from the endowment and alumni and foundation support, lowering the cost to all students. All admitted students who demonstrated financial need and met application deadlines received aid. The average total need-based package of grants, loans and work study was nearly $40,000.

Posse Scholars: Dickinson’s partnership with the Posse Foundation provides full scholarships, mentoring and a support group for “Posses” of students from Los Angeles, most of whom have substantial financial need. Dickinson also partners with Philadelphia Futures, College Match, and NJ Seeds, which give qualified, historically underrepresented students the chance to attend institutions like Dickinson.
http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20050/diversity/1389/posse_at_dickinson

Community College Partnership Program: allows students to reduce total educational expenses by attending one of our region’s five top community colleges during their first two years. While there, they participate in an honors program and receive academic advising from Dickinson staff. After successful completion of the program, the students transfer to Dickinson for their final two years and receive a $25,000 scholarship for each of their two remaining years. Partners include two community colleges in Maryland—Howard Community College and Montgomery College—and two in Pennsylvania—Montgomery County Community College, Northampton Community College and Harrisburg Community College.

Public Service Scholarship: Exceptional high-school graduates earn tuition credits of up to $40,000 while working to improve the society in which they live. Each year of meaningful public-service work--including service as a Global Citizen Year Fellow--earns participants a $10,000 tuition credit toward their tuition at Dickinson. Upon matriculation such Public Service Fellows receive priority consideration for positions as resident advisors, community advisors and other opportunities to further reduce tuition and fees and gain additional leadership experience.

Yellow Ribbon Program: Dickinson's historic mission of educating engaged citizens and leaders has driven participation in a government program allowing post-9/11 United States veterans—and in some cases, their dependents—to enroll with significantly reduced tuition. Dickinson is one of more than 1,000 colleges and universities participating in the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program. This federal effort allows qualifying students to pay no more for their Dickinson tuition than the maximum in-state fees at a state school. They may also receive a stipend for books and supplies. This initiative opens new doors for veterans and provides them with unprecedented access to higher education.


A brief description of notable policies or programs to support non-traditional students:
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:

Data for Part 2 are taken from Dickinson's 2019-2020 Common Data Set, https://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/11620/cds_2019_2020_tuition_update_051920.pdf

Percentage of entering students that are low-income is based on incoming first-time first-year student Pell Grant recipients, row B4 of Common Data Set

The graduation/success rate for low-income students is based on the six-year graduation rate for the Fall 2013 cohort of Pell Grant recipients, row B11 of Common Data Set.

The percentage of student financial need met on average is based on full-time undergrads, row H2 of Common Data Set.

The percentage of students graduation with no interest-bearing student loan debt calculated as 100% less the % of students in graduating class of 2019 who took any loans, row H5 of Common Data Set.


Data for Part 2 are taken from Dickinson's 2019-2020 Common Data Set, https://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/11620/cds_2019_2020_tuition_update_051920.pdf

Percentage of entering students that are low-income is based on incoming first-time first-year student Pell Grant recipients, row B4 of Common Data Set

The graduation/success rate for low-income students is based on the six-year graduation rate for the Fall 2013 cohort of Pell Grant recipients, row B11 of Common Data Set.

The percentage of student financial need met on average is based on full-time undergrads, row H2 of Common Data Set.

The percentage of students graduation with no interest-bearing student loan debt calculated as 100% less the % of students in graduating class of 2019 who took any loans, row H5 of Common Data Set.

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.