Bates College, pictured last winter, has one of the least economically diverse student bodies of any elite college or university in the country, according to New York Times research released Thursday. Steve Collins/Sun Journal, file

Bates College has one of the least economically diverse student bodies of any elite college or university in the country, according to New York Times research released Thursday.

Colby College and Bowdoin College, Maine’s two other highly selective schools, also have significantly below-average economic diversity among their students.

The Times’ research measured economic diversity at 286 elite institutions based on the percentage of 2020-21 freshman class students who received federal Pell Grants, which are reserved for students with extreme financial need and do not have to be repaid.

Of the 286 schools, Bates College in Lewiston ranks 283rd in terms of economic diversity, with only 8% of the 2020-21 freshman class receiving Pell Grants.

Colby, in Waterville, ranks 230th in terms of economic diversity, with 14% of its 2020-21 freshmen receiving Pell Grants. Bowdoin, in Brunswick, ranks 207th, with 16% of 2020-21 freshmen receiving Pell Grants. On average, 21% of the students at the 286 colleges receive Pell Grants.

Bates and Bowdoin said Pell Grants only tell part of the story of economic diversity.

“The average percentages reported by the Times represent a snapshot of one way to measure economic diversity,” Bowdoin spokesperson Doug Cook said.

The colleges said that while looking at Pell Grants is important, it ignores those with significant financial needs who do not qualify for Pell Grants. They also said other metrics should be considered when gauging economic diversity, including the percentages of first-generation students, middle-income students, and students who receive any financial aid, as well as what support colleges provide for students with high financial need.

Both schools also said they are committed to attracting more Pell-eligible students and students with high financial need, that they are known for providing generous financial aid, and that the 2020-21 data is dated and their Pell enrollment has increased since then.

Representatives for Colby declined to answer questions, including whether the college believes the ranking is fair and what it says about the school but noted that Colby had the highest rate of Pell Grant growth between the 2015-2016 and 2021-22 among 135 schools, many of which were included in the New York Times research.

EFFECT OF HIGH COURT RULING

For decades, schools in Maine and around the country have vowed, and in many cases succeeded, to increase both racial and economic diversity as a way to reverse decades of systemic racism and opportunity gaps.

Over the past few months, the pressure to continue that has mounted. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned affirmative action, declaring that race can not be considered in college admissions, removing a tool the schools have long used to increase diversity.

In the wake of the landmark decision, advocacy groups have put pressure on schools to maintain diversity. In July, the Greater Boston Latino Network and other advocacy groups filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against Harvard, claiming its practice of legacy admissions – considering an applicant’s relationship to alumni when evaluating an application – disadvantages applicants of color and boosts already privileged applicants by giving a leg up to those whose family members had the opportunity to attend elite schools a generation before.

Education leaders around the country said they would put a heavier focus on wealth as a way to continue to build diverse classes. Some, including Wesleyan University in Connecticut, have ditched legacy admissions. The Maine colleges have not ended their legacy admissions policies but said they will continue to build a diverse student body.

“We will not allow the Court’s decision to diminish our commitment to our current students or the students we will continue to seek out,” Bates’ outgoing president Clayton Spencer, and current president Garry W. Jenkins said in a joint statement to the community at the time.

“We will take this opportunity to do what we do best: think creatively and experiment with new strategies consistent with the law that will allow us to continue to craft a class with diverse identities, life experiences, interests, and perspectives.”

Most Pell Grants go to students whose families make less than $30,000 a year. The maximum Pell Grant award for the 2023-24 school year is $7,395.

The percentage of students receiving Pell Grants at selective schools ranges from 8% at schools such as Bates College, Tulane University in New Orleans, Fairfield University in Connecticut, and Oberlin College in Ohio to 94% at Berea College, a tuition-free private school in Kentucky. The next-highest Pell Grant-receiving student body is at Salem College in North Carolina, where 69% of students receive federal aid.

While some schools increased their shares of Pell Grant-receiving students from the 2010-11 school year to the 2020-21 year, the percentage of students with the grant dropped at most schools. The average percentage of Pell Grant-receiving students at these elite schools went down 2% between 2011 and 2021.

COLBY INCREASED PELL PERCENTAGE

Of the five Maine schools listed by the New York Times, only Colby increased its percentage of students receiving Pell Grants.

Between 2011 and 2021, the percentage decreased by 5% at Bates, 1% at Bowdoin, 8% at the University of Maine, and 10% at College of the Atlantic. The percentage of Pell students at Colby increased by 4%.

Bates said it is invested in enrolling more students with high financial need and said the two-year-old federal data isn’t the most recent, citing its updated data showing that 12% of the students in its 2022-23 class, up from 9% the year before, were Pell Grant recipients.

“We are known for generous financial aid packages – meeting 100% of demonstrated financial need,” Bates spokesperson Mary Pols said. The college understands the financial challenge families face in managing costs, recognizes that each family has different needs and encourages families concerned about affording college to apply for need-based financial aid, Pols said.

Bowdoin also said the two-year-old federal data the Times used for its research doesn’t reflect the current situation.  In this year’s incoming class, 19% of Bowdoin students are Pell Grant recipients, a 3% increase from the 2020-21 year, the college said. “We are committed to increasing the percentage further in years ahead,” said Cook, Bowdoin’s spokesperson.

Bowdoin also noted that it is need-blind and does not know what an applicant’s financial situation is during the admissions process.

“While we certainly pay attention to a student’s lived experience within our holistic admissions process to recognize the context in which a student has grown up, income has not been a factor,” Cook said.

While the schools ranked low on the percentage of Pell-eligible students, they have some of the lowest prices for middle-income students. The net price for middle-income students is $3,300 at Colby – one of the lowest for the 286 colleges – $9,900 for Bates and $10,300 for Bowdoin. The net price for middle-income students ranges from $500 for Harvard students to $41,100 for students at Emerson College in Massachusetts.

There were five Maine colleges on the New York Times list. College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor ranked 32nd, with 33% of its incoming students in 2020-21 receiving Pell Grants. The University of Maine at Orono ranked 63rd, with 26% of freshmen that year receiving Pell Grants. No other Maine schools were included.

This story has been updated to reflect Bates’ 2022-23 data.