Closing the Gap
Recruiting and retaining top students requires robust financial aid support
7 min read
The moment students read the acceptance letter from their top-choice university is like a dream come true. But it’s the moment they review their financial aid package when they discover whether that dream will become a reality.
As an institution founded on the conviction that education is the path to a better future for both individuals and the nation, five years ago, CMU pledged to do all it could to support every admitted student by meeting 100% of the demonstrated need of all domestic undergraduate students. And in welcoming the Class of 2026 in fall 2022, the university has achieved that goal.
“We have seen an enormous increase in the pool of talent applying to Carnegie Mellon over the past decade,” says CMU President Farnam Jahanian. “Especially at this critical time of societal and cultural transformation, the world needs more individuals to address the challenges of our modern world, and we stand committed to ensuring that every deserving student we admit can come to, and thrive at, CMU — regardless of their background or resources.”
Where We Were
In 2016, Carnegie Mellon made the commitment to meet the full need of its undergraduate students, and in doing so joined a group that included all its peers in the top 25. At the time, CMU met approximately 87% of student financial need on average, even when using a conservative estimate. This prevented CMU from being more competitive in attracting the best Pell Grant eligible students, many of whom rose to the top of their high school classes without the same opportunities as peers from better resourced households.
Even as both the quantity and quality of CMU’s undergraduate applications increased over the past decade, cost remained a high barrier to many outside the top-income brackets, including middle-class students who don’t qualify for certain federal programs and face unexpected financial challenges to a top-tier university education.
“It was disappointing that we couldn’t provide the resources for everyone who earned their place at CMU, let alone the students who did not even apply to CMU because of the cost,” Dean of Admission Michael Steidel says. “Now that we are meeting full need, it has been a game changer.”
“We are a much better institution student-wise because we’re making it possible for every admitted student who’s earned their way into Carnegie Mellon to attend.”
Need-based aid is offered to students who demonstrate financial need, and meet other eligibility criteria, through provided information from their FAFSA.
With the university’s leadership committed to addressing closing the financial gap for admitted students, CMU raised its total financial aid award from $113.6 million in 2016 to $152.5 million in 2021-2022, a 34% increase. The majority of the increase was in the form of grants provided to students by CMU.
CMU also began offering financial aid packages that did not include loans to all incoming federal Pell Grant eligible students, those whose families demonstrate high need based on their Federal Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) with a family income under $100,000. In 2021-2022, 1,024 CMU undergraduates received Pell Grants, including about 15% of the incoming class, and the average grant recipient received just over $45,000 in need-based grant aid. That represents 45% growth compared with $31,000 in 2015-2016.
“An investment in financial aid is an investment in helping CMU become a better institution in so many ways,” Steidel says. “We’re investing in young people’s lives.”
CMU works closely with families who are eligible for financial aid to develop a package of aid that is tailored to their circumstances. In 2021-2022, financial aid offers were some combination of CMU grants (75.3%), student loans (11%), federal grants (5.9%), tuition remission (4.5%), other grants and scholarships (2.4%), and work study (0.8%).
While loans are a part of the financial aid and bill payment equation for non-Pell eligible students, the university has made important progress in reducing student loan debt for graduates. Just 35% of the students from the Class of 2022 borrowed federal student loans to support their educational expenses, as compared to 59% for the Class of 2018. The average debt for graduating CMU students has been reduced by 25%, from $26,000 in 2019 to about $19,500 in 2022, and CMU’s federal loan default rate has fallen to a low of just 0.1%.
Where We Go From Here
Steidel, who is retiring after 45 years at CMU at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year, sees two areas of challenge and opportunity ahead for the university. The U.S. college-age population is shrinking, and the demographics of those students is shifting significantly. Looking globally, CMU also has not yet begun to address financial aid for its international undergraduate students, which limits access for students from parts of the world with the most significant financial need.
“The student of the future will look very different from the student of the last decade,” Steidel says. “We’ve made big strides, but we still have a way to go in terms of resources that are really needed for all students, regardless of citizenship, to be able to attend CMU. There’s a huge need and, quite frankly, it’s not going away.”
On June 1, CMU will welcome Kristina Wong Davis as its inaugural vice provost for enrollment management, a new position that will oversee the integration of the offices of admission and enrollment services and shape the university’s approach to demographic shifts, access and affordability, and the broad higher education landscape.
The need for increased financial aid resources is clear, and the ripple effects of gifts like the one made by the Johnsons, as well as other Make Possible supporters, is equally apparent. With more gifts designated to financial aid, CMU can decrease the amount of the operating budget and rely on those endowed funds to fuel a robust financial aid budget, which in turn allows for more investment in the people, places and programs that make CMU one of the greatest universities in the world.
In 2021-2022, a total of $114.9 million in CMU grants was awarded to 2,627 students. Of those funds, roughly 12% came from generous donors who contributed to the CMU endowment. To date, 378 scholarships (and fellowships) have been created as part of Make Possible: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University. More than 1,150 students (and counting) already have received scholarship and fellowship support as a result of Make Possible gifts.
“The students admitted to CMU are some of the brightest in the world and among the most impressive of their generation,” Jahanian says.
“As a university dedicated to advancing a holistic campus experience based on a diversity of thought, research and scholarship, we must continue to remove barriers to opportunity and expand access so that students of all backgrounds can enhance our community and experience the benefits of a Carnegie Mellon education. Sustaining this commitment for years to come will remain one of our highest priorities.”
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