Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 70.13
Liaison John Alejandro
Submission Date March 24, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of San Diego
PA-8: Affordability and Access

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.95 / 4.00 Trey McDonald
Director of Sustainability and Energy Manager
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 :
74

Percentage of students graduating without student loan debt:
55

Percentage of entering students that are low-income:
13.70

Graduation/success rate for low-income students:
79

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

The university offers scholarships, work study, and other grant opportunities for recruiting and retention. The Diversity "Circle of Excellence" Scholarships are awarded to incoming first-time freshmen based on superior academic achievement, test scores, leadership, service, talent, and other personal qualities and are generally reserved for underrepresented undergraduates who have financial need. Please see: https://catalogs.sandiego.edu/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships-grants/

Student Support Services is jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the University of San Diego to serve eligible undergraduates at USD. The program provides opportunities for academic development, assists with college requirements, and serves to retain and motivate students towards the successful completion of their post-secondary education at USD. Eligible students meet one or more of the following criteria: Low income (as determined by Federal Income Guidelines), first generation (an individual both of whose parents, or whose only support parent did not complete a baccalaureate degree), students with disabilities (students who have a documented disability and are registered with USD's Disability Services), and/or underrepresented population (as determined by USD).

Upward Bound (UB) at USD keeps 75 1st generation-eligible-for-college, low-income Kearny High School students in school and bound for college. The University of San Diego TRiO: Upward Bound program is one of over 700 Upward Bound programs nationwide that assist eligible high school students to complete high school and graduate to higher levels of education. The students that Upward Bound serves must come from low-income families (with incomes at or below 150% of poverty as defined by the U.S. Department of Education) and/or are first generation potential college students.

Upward Bound provides fundamental support to participants in their preparation for college entrance. The program provides opportunities for participants to succeed in pre-college performance and ultimately in higher education pursuits. Upward Bound aims to increase the rates at which participants complete secondary education, enroll in, and graduate from institutions of post-secondary education.


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

The McNair Scholars Program, funded by the US Dept. of Education and USD, serves high-achieving USD undergraduates committed to pursuing a PhD or other graduate degree. Two-thirds of the McNair Scholars at USD must be both first-generation and income eligible students. McNair Scholars are exposed to research training and scholarly experiences throughout the year and have opportunities to present their research at national academic conferences. In addition, they are eligible to participate in the McNair Summer Research Program. As Summer Research Interns, they conduct an 8-10 week research project, attend a graduate school boot camp, produce a scholarly essay on their findings, and present their work at a minimum of two academic conferences. The program offers the loan of a laptop computer, field trips and travel to graduate school sites, and a financial stipend for summer scholarship. One of 187 McNair programs in the US, in June 2003 USD McNair received its first 5-year award ($1.1 million) from the US Department of Education. In 2007 its second cycle was funded for $900K.


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:
---

Website URL where information about the institution’s accessibility and affordability initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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.