PROVIDENCE – Brown University is expanding its criteria for which students qualify for financial aid, the university announced Monday.
The university will eliminate the consideration of a family’s home equity as an asset when considering a student’s available financial resources starting in the 2022-2023 academic year.
This means that Brown will start to fully cover tuition for families earning $125,000 or less with typical assets.
“Removing home equity and lowering the expected family contribution is a critical step toward our goal of making Brown affordable for families from all socioeconomic backgrounds,” Powell said. “With this initiative, we will be better positioned to recruit and enroll more students from moderate-income backgrounds.”
In addition, students of families that make less than $60,000 a year with typical assets will receive a scholarship that covers tuition, room, board and books, as well as other expenses. The change is designed to aid students who are not expected to have a parent contribution, to cover personal expenses while in school.
The announcement follows massive growth in the university’s endowment in fiscal 2021.
The university outlined three major goals to pursue after its endowment swelled to $6.9 billion: Increase in the scholarships for moderate-income students; move towards need- blind admissions for international students; and to develop a program that prepares students from public schools in Providence for college.
“Brown has a longstanding commitment to matriculate talented students from all income backgrounds,” President Christina H. Paxson said in a statement. “The university is also committed to promoting educational achievement among children from our surrounding communities. The remarkable growth in Brown’s endowment and the success of the BrownTogether campaign provide an opportunity to build on these two commitments, ensuring that the university continues to attract the best and brightest students from all over the world, and expanding college-going in Rhode Island.”
The three initiatives are expected to add $25 million to Brown’s current annual budget, which is now $153.7 million.
The university said that to create the program for Providence students, it will work with community partners to develop, fund and lead the college-preparation program that will initially be for cohorts of students attending public schools in Providence, but that could be potentially expanded to other parts of Rhode Island’s urban core.
“This academic year, we will plan a new initiative that will focus on preparing cohorts of students from Providence to enter selective four-year degree programs after high school graduation,” Paxson said. “This initiative will complement the Rhode Island Promise scholarship, which provides every Rhode Island student coming right out of high school with two years of college tuition-free at the Community College of Rhode Island.”
The university said that it is aiming to become fully need-blind for international students starting in fall 2025. Brown already has a need-blind admissions process for domestic students, but has only been “need-aware” for international applicants.
“Need-blind admissions for international students will have wide-ranging, positive impacts for the university and the world,” said Provost Richard M. Locke. “It will create new opportunities for students to learn from international peers who have distinct experiences and perspectives, while also providing a Brown education for talented young people who will go on to serve their communities locally, nationally and globally.”