Dickinson College
PA-8: Affordability and Access

The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits and trains student leaders from public high schools in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C., to form multicultural teams called “Posses.” These teams are then prepared, through an intensive eight-month Pre-Collegiate Training Program, for enrollment at top-tier colleges and universities nationwide to pursue their academic interests and help promote cross-cultural communication. The concept of a Posse is rooted in the belief that a small, diverse group of talented students—a Posse—carefully selected and trained, can serve as a catalyst for increased individual and community development. Dickinson College began its relationship with the Posse Foundation in 2001, with its first cohort of students arriving from New York City. After several successful years with New York, Dickinson expanded its outreach and, in 2005, became the first college on the East Coast to partner with the Los Angeles Posse program. Dickinson also partners with Philadelphia Futures, College Match, and NJ Seeds http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20050/diversity/1389/posse_at_dickinson TRIO: Although Dickinson does not have its own TRIO program/grant funding, we do work with TRIO to expose students to the liberal arts and answer their questions around affordability and access.

Students in the Posse program have faculty and staff Posse mentors.

Prep for Prep works with low-income, strong middle school students and help them gain admission into prep schools in New York City and boarding schools on the East Coast. Prep for Prep continues support throughout high and help to gain admission into highly selective institutions of higher education. The Lenfest Foundation is dedicated to supporting programs primarily in the areas of education, arts and the environment. H.F. (Gerry) and Marguerite Lenfest established the Foundation in 2000. The Foundation is based in suburban Philadelphia and primarily supports organizations and programs in southeastern and south central Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and northern Delaware. AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is an elementary through post-secondary college readiness program designed to increase school-wide learning and performance. The AVID system accelerates student learning, uses research based methods of effective instruction, provides meaningful and motivational professional development, and acts as a catalyst for systemic reform and change. Streetsquash is an after-school youth enrichment program that combines academic tutoring with squash instruction, community service, and one-on-one mentoring. NJ SEEDS prepares academically talented, financially limited youth for success at competitive secondary schools.

Samuel G. Rose ’58 knows that it’s tough to put a price tag on equal opportunity. “One of the major problems in this country is making the playing field level for all people, especially urban youths,” he explains. “Everyone needs education so we can give everyone the same opportunities.” That’s why the Washington, D.C., attorney and real-estate developer committed $200,000 in 2000 to establish the Samuel G. Rose ’58 Scholarship for economically disadvantaged students from urban areas which reduces recipients' student loans. During the next five years he added more than $5 million, and in September 2007, Rose, a Dickinson trustee emeritus and vice chair at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, committed another $5 million, for a total of $10 million. The majority of that money will go toward the scholarship, while a portion will be given to the athletics facilities renovation project and to the Annual Fund. The scholarship recipients are chosen by a team of administrators who review grades, high-school class ranks, SAT scores and financial situations. Rose’s philanthropy has been a major boost to the college’s level of diversity. http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20259/grants_and_scholarships/1193/samuel_g_rose_58_scholarship

Dickinson is proud to be a member of the Private College 529 Plan (formerly the Independent 529 Plan), the only nationally sponsored plan that is owned by the participating schools to help families control the cost of tuition and avoid market risk.

Please see above.

Please see http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20075/children_s_center/1047/enrollment_information

Please see http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20045/admissions/1046/nontraditional_admissions for more information and http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20256/apply/1021/special_admissions_opportunities

Percentage of entering students that are low-income is based on incoming first-time first-year student Pell Grant recipients. The graduation/success rate for low-income students is an average of the six-year graduation rate of the Fall 2006, 2007, and 2008 cohorts of Pell recipients. The percentage of student financial need met, on average is based on full-time undergrads in fall 2014 and comes from our Common Data Set. The percentage of students graduation with no interest-bearing student loan debt also comes from our Common Data Set. From CDS, we have the percentage of the 2014 graduating class who borrowed at any time through any loan programs. If we assume that they did not pay their loans off before graduation (which seems safe, since if they were that financially solvent they probably wouldn’t be going for loans), then we can take 100% minus this percentage to get the percent of students graduating with no loan debt. So for the class of 2014, we get 43% graduating with no loan debt.