Affordable Excellence

I thought this article was interesting, as it is about financial aid (need vs. merit) at a public liberal arts college that is competitive with both public institutions and liberal arts colleges. The main gist of this article is that St. Mary's College of Maryland will be getting a new VP and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid, Patricia Goldsmith, and the goal of the institution is to increase both access and excellence.

While this article is specifically about this institution, I think almost every institution would say that they would like to be able to increase access and excellence, but the question is "How?" In the article, the author discusses institutions that have opted to be "need blind" as well as institutions that will give merit grants to all students that meet certain academic criteria (though critics argue this is what institutions were doing all along anyway). I have a hard time understanding how a public "honors" college that really has that private liberal arts college feel can exist and continue to be affordable. With a student:teacher ratio that rivals many private liberal arts colleges, and an almost completely residential community (90% of students live on campus), the faculty and staff salaries (especially if there is staff tenure in this state) as well as the maintenance of the campus must be very expensive!

At least tuition and fees for St. Mary's College seems to be a "good deal" (relatively, of course) at $14,400 a year for residents, though non-resident tuition is significantly higher at $26,500 a year. I think that going forward, St. Mary's needs to find a way to figure out the direction they want to head in and try to stay true to their mission. Since they are an "honors," college, academics should be their main focus, but as a public institution, their next priority should be accessibility for in-state students. Though I understand the need to use tuition discounting and that there is a benefit to having students from various geographic locations, I think this institution needs maintain its accessibility particularly for in-state students, particularly those with high levels of financial need.