Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 53.15
Liaison Paul Scanlon
Submission Date Feb. 29, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Slippery Rock University
PA-8: Affordability and Access

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.69 / 4.00 Paul Scanlon
Special Assistant to the President
President's Office/Sustainability
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Does the institution have policies and programs in place to make it accessible and affordable to low-income students?:
Yes

A brief description of any policies and programs to minimize the cost of attendance for low-income students:
SRU's financial aid office provides individual student/family counseling at Orientation and through phone and in-person meetings year-round that includes discussions about minimizing costs related to housing and meal plan choices. From the SRU Strategic Plan: • Increase the amount of need-based funding from private source (SRU Foundation, Inc.) and public sources (financial aid) for low income students. • Slippery Rock University will strive to be affordable for eligible students from low- and middle-income families. • Increase the number of need-based scholarship opportunities for prospective and current students. • Decrease the total average debt of students at time of graduation.

A brief description of any programs to equip the institution’s faculty and staff to better serve students from low-income backgrounds:
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A brief description of any programs to prepare students from low-income backgrounds for higher education:
Each fall semester the Tutorial Center sponsors a series of workshops to aid students in their learning from note-taking to time management. The workshops are traditionally given during common hour (12:30 pm - 1:15 pm) on Thursday’s consecutively for 10 weeks. There are also a series of brochures and presentations available at: http://www.sru.edu/admissions/financial-aid/resources

A brief description of the institution's scholarships for low-income students:
ESD Emergency Book Fund: SRU provides a limited number of scholarships to assist with books for students who are exceptionally needy. This listing provides information and criteria for all scholarships available through SRU and information about additional scholarship opportunities from external organizations.: http://www.sru.edu/admissions/financial-aid

A brief description of any programs to guide parents of low-income students through the higher education experience:
SRU offers FAFSA-filing workshops on campus each spring to provide students and families with the opportunity to file the FAFSA on-line with the assistance of an SRU financial aid officer. See http://www.sru.edu/admissions/financial-aid/apply-for-aid for more information on this topic. SRU has a webpage dedicated to informing parents of the operations and services of the University, located here: http://www.sru.edu/admissions/financial-aid/apply-for-aid SRU provides a Financial Aid Calendar to help guide parents through the aid application timeline, located here: http://www.sru.edu/admissions/financial-aid/apply-for-aid

A brief description of any targeted outreach to recruit students from low-income backgrounds:
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A brief description of other admissions policies or programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students:
The Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan represents the collaborative initiatives, communications, energies and efforts of the Enrollment Services personnel as well as many constituencies across departments and divisions on campus.

A brief description of other financial aid policies or programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students:
The Office of Financial Aid and Veterans Educational Benefits website provides information about grants, loans, work-study and scholarship opportunities, along with information about SRU's affordable tuition. This information assists in understanding how SRU can help with educational costs. http://www.sru.edu/Documents/admissions/first-year%20students/accepted%20students

A brief description of other policies and programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students not covered above:
Slippery Rock University's Strategic Planning Vision 2025 Planning Review aims to improve student learning and success of low-income, first-generation students, and students of color, (FGLI/SC) including first year and transfer cohorts, as measured by improved retention and graduation rates, by continuing and expanding institutional research. See http://www.sru.edu/news/022316d for an overview of the strategic plan. SRU's Office of Institutional Research identifies SRU students by income level and first generation status in order to be able to use the data as necessary to create new programming and outreach.

Does the institution have policies and programs in place to support non-traditional students?:
Yes

A brief description of any scholarships provided specifically for part-time students:
SRU offers several scholarships to students who are taking a part-time course load. These can be found on SRU's Financial Aid website, http://www.sru.edu/Documents/admissions/first-year%20students/accepted%20students.

A brief description of any onsite child care facilities, partnerships with local facilities, and/or subsidies or financial support to help meet the child care needs of students:
The SRU/SGA Preschool and Child Care Center is a nationally accredited, state licensed, non-profit center which is owned by the Slippery Rock Student Government Association, Inc.. Since the Center is licensed by the Department of Public Welfare and the Department of Education, and accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, all staff members are required to meet strict regulations regarding training and experience. The Center is located on campus and the U.S. Department of Education has approved a grant of $93,920 for the child care center to help reduce attendance cost.

A brief description of other policies and programs to support non-traditional students:
There are several scholarships for only non-traditional students including the Candy Hartley ’84 Scholarship to support non-traditional female students.

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (accessibility and affordability indicators)?:
Yes

Indicators that the institution is accessible and affordable to low-income students::
Percentage (0-100)
The percentage of entering students that are low-income 34.80
The graduation/success rate for low-income students 59.70
The percentage of student financial need met, on average 60.50
The percentage of students graduating with no interest-bearing student loan debt 14.20

The 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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The website URL where information about the institution's affordability and access programs is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.