An Unusual Group of Student Journalists Steps Up

National experts on admissions and financial aid said the policy was the first of its kind. Seton Hall officials said they hoped it would provide clarity and certainty up front to the most desirable applicants, easing the weeks and months of stress that admitted students face as they wait to hear how much financial aid they might get from different campuses.

“The primary motivation has been that as we go through what looks like a double-dip recession, we wanted to help our students,†Seton Hall’s president, Gabriel Esteban, said of the new approach. But in addition, he said, “it probably will help us in attracting a certain quality of students.â€

To qualify for the discount, which would equal about two-thirds of this year’s $31,440 tuition (room, board and other fees add about $13,000 to the total annual bill), students must graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes and have a combined score of at least 1,200 on their math and reading SATs — but no less than 550 on either — or an ACT score of 27 or above.

Though experts said they knew of no college providing such a blanket discount for top-flight students, other institutions have similarly tried to distinguish themselves in this ailing economy by appealing to students’ bottom lines.

Sewanee, a liberal arts college in Tennessee, this fall cut its total annual bill for students by 10 percent. Many Ivy League schools have lately made a “no loan†commitment to families earning as much as $100,000 per year, promising to cover students’ entire assessed financial need with grants. Albright College, in Reading, Pa., decided in 2009 to give out more in merit aid than in need-based aid, and to send details of financial aid awards out with admissions letters, not as follow-ups.

And the State of Georgia has for a decade been granting residents with A and B averages full scholarships to its public colleges, though that program was scaled back this spring for budgetary reasons.

Like many colleges, Seton Hall, a Catholic university in South Orange, N.J., has need-blind admissions: that is, it accepts or rejects students without regard to their ability to pay. But also like many of its peers, it offers more generous financial support to the students it most wants — a practice generally known as merit aid.

Studies by the National Association for College Admission Counseling showed that in the mid-1990s, a large majority of colleges provided financial aid based only on need; but that by 2007, nearly as many provided aid based on perceived merit, academic or otherwise.

“The most elite institutions in the United States have historically had policies that they would not give aid for any reason other than financial need,†said Jerome Sullivan, executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. “But there were always exceptions, and since the ’80s, you’ve seen more and more schools shift away from that. It’s all about competing for the best students.â€

Rutgers, a public university with more than 40,000 undergraduates on three campuses, charges $10,104 in tuition to in-state undergraduates and $22,766 to out-of-state students, plus room, board and fees that, like Seton Hall’s, amount to about $13,000 a year.

Next fall, Seton Hall’s discounted tuition will match what Rutgers now charges New Jersey residents. Going forward, Seton Hall officials said, the price would be subject to annual increases and would not necessarily be pegged to its much larger public neighbor’s. To be eligible for the lower price, students must apply by the Dec. 15 “early action†deadline, thereby indicating a strong, but nonbinding, preference for Seton Hall over others.

Applicants to most colleges, including Seton Hall, fill out a financial aid form provided by the federal Education Department, which estimates what families should be expected to be able to pay and determines eligibility for federal grant and loan programs. But many colleges provide less financial aid than the federal government says a family needs.

Seton Hall, founded in 1859, has more than 5,000 undergraduate students, with 82 percent of them living on its suburban campus 14 miles west of Manhattan. It has nearly as many students in its graduate schools of law, business, health sciences and other fields; the new discount policy will not apply to the graduate students.

Eighty-five percent of Seton Hall undergraduates received some financial aid this year, at a cost to the university of about $60 million. For those who would have received aid under the existing system, the savings from the discounted tuition would be less than the full $21,000.

Seton Hall’s vice president for enrollment management, Alyssa McCloud, said that after students were admitted, “there’s a lot of confusion among families about the bottom-line cost†as they waited to hear from various schools about their aid packages, as well as about any independent scholarships they might be competing for. The discounted tuition for top students, she said, would let “families know right up front what the bottom line will be.â€

If the new policy had been in effect this year, Ms. McCloud said, 16 percent of the school’s freshmen would have had the high school academic credentials to qualify for the lower price. But that percentage could rise if the policy helps the school draw more top-notch applicants.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/nyregion/seton-hall-university-to-offer-steep-tuition-discounts.html?ref=education