Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.21
Liaison Ann Drevno
Submission Date Feb. 26, 2020

STARS v2.2

Saint Mary's College of California
PA-8: Affordability and Access

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.63 / 4.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Provide at least one of the following figures:

Percentage of need met, on average, for students who were awarded any need-based aid :
85

Percentage of students graduating without student loan debt:
23

Percentage of entering students that are low-income:
30

Graduation/success rate for low-income students:
60

Optional Fields

A brief description of notable policies or programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students:
1). TRIO Student Support Services Program, which supports higher education efforts that motivate and prepare underrepresented students on college campuses for academic success and graduation. This program is structured to help low-income and first generation students build on their personal assets and strengths and use them to succeed academically. Saint Mary’s provides up to $300,000 a year of need based aid to low-income students who participate in this program.

2). 90% of institutional aid for the 2014 undergraduate cohort awarded was applied toward need-based aid, which includes non-need- based aid used to meet need (Source: Common Data Set).
3). Students are allowed to take an additional course (5th course) for free each year in order to help them persist and graduate on time. This policy allows students to complete their degree on time and take on less debt.
4). The Board of Trustees defines as one of its metrics that 20% of the admitted students must be Pell eligible, which connects concretely to the College's mission to be of service to the poor.
5). The MAPS program provides a full-tuition scholarship program to high-achieving students with financial need interested in studying Math, Physics, Chemistry or Biochemistry.
6). Saint Mary’s students can benefit from an intentional and robust financial aid literacy program in partnership with SALT a non-profit organization. This program provides resources and tools for students to better manage their personal and student debt.

A brief description of notable policies or programs to support non-traditional students:
Saint Mary’s part time students can benefit from an intentional and robust financial aid literacy program in partnership with SALT a non-profit organization. This program provides resources and tools for students to better manage their personal and student debt.

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:
30

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 data gathered on financial need and student loan debt (85% and 23% respectively) reflects students who have graduated, minus transfer students.

The website URL where information about the institution's affordability and access programs is available:

1. http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid/undergraduate
2. http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid/graduate
3. http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/supportresources
4. http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/admissions-aid/alt-financial-literacy-program

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.