Administration needs to focus on aid

The Admissions and Recruitment Working Group, one of three diversity working groups commissioned by President DeGioia in April, released a series of promising but imperfect recommendations to the student body last week.

The most important of the ARWG’s recommendations address financial aid and scholarships. According to the report, Georgetown’s limited financial aid is the number one reason why it loses the battle for top minority students to peer institutions. ARWG’s recommendation to increase funding for undergraduate scholarships should be made a top consideration for the University. The 1789 Scholarship Imperative, which has been prioritized by the administration in Georgetown’s upcoming capital campaign, intends to raise $500 million in the next five years and would go a long way toward advancing diversity on campus.

In addition to improving racial diversity, it is crucial for Georgetown to commit to socioeconomic diversity. According to the Student Commission for Unity’s final report, nearly 87.5 percent of Georgetown parents reported an income above the median household income of $50,233,” and 20.2 percent of Georgetown parents fill the largest income bracket of over $300,000 per year. Only by increasing financial aid and scholarships can Georgetown position itself to attract students from modest economic backgrounds and create socioeconomic diversity on campus.

While the ARWG’s recommendations about financial aid are badly needed, their proposals for changing the admissions essay prompts are misguided. The ARWG has proposed that the first essay prompt on the Georgetown application ask how the prospective student’s background or life experiences could enrich the University community. This particular recommendation is unnecessary. Students already have the ability to address their life experiences in the admissions essays.

The necessity of creating a senior position within the Department of Admissions responsible for diversity related issues, as the ARWG recommends is also questionable. A number of senior positions are already committed to promoting diversity such as the vice president for Institutional Diversity & Equity, the director of the LGBTQ Center, and the Director of the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access.

The problem, after all, is not that Georgetown fails to accept minority students—the problem is that minority students do not choose to attend to Georgetown. According to Vice President for Institutional Diversity & Equity Rosemary Kilkenny, approximately 25 percent of admitted African-American students attend Georgetown as opposed to between 70 to 80 percent of white students. Increasing financial aid—not meddling with essay prompts or creating unnecessary positions—is the key to increasing that number.

The fact that Georgetown is expanding its commitments to financial aid and scholarships, despite the current state of the economy, shows that the University is dedicated to creating a more diverse student body. Going forward, it is critical that the other working groups, addressing Student Life and Academics, follow the ARWG’s lead in proposing concrete recommendations in a timely fashion.