Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.28
Liaison David Blodgett
Submission Date March 30, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Babson College
PA-7: Affordability and Access

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.56 / 4.00 Melissa Shaak
Director, Associate Dean
Student Financial Service
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have policies and programs to make it accessible and affordable to low-income students?:
Yes

A brief description of any policies and programs to minimize the cost of attendance for low-income students:

Babson's awards $40 million annually in undergraduate grants and scholarships. For the class that enrolled in Fall 2017, and for the first time in nearly two decades, we were able to meet 100% of their financial need. Fourteen percent of the entering class received Federal Pell Grants, and we are working to increase that number in future years. We are pleased that our financial aid packages enable low-income students to enroll and be successful at Babson.


A brief description of any programs to equip the institution’s faculty and staff to better serve students from low-income backgrounds:

One of Babson’s core values is diversity, including socioeconomic diversity, and faculty and staff are actively encouraged to support students from a wide range of backgrounds and life circumstances. This commitment extends throughout our curricular and co-curricular programs, and to the residence halls through our Resident Assistant staff.


A brief description of the institution’s programs to guide and prepare students and families from low-income backgrounds for higher education:

Babson College consistently ranks high in measures of Return on Investment. And notably for students from low-income backgrounds, Babson was recently ranked the No. 1 business school in the country for helping students from low-income families achieve economic prosperity as adults. The curriculum, at its core, is designed to educate entrepreneurial leaders who create significant economic and social value — everywhere. Complementing the curriculum is a wide array of programs and services available to students at Babson, and our close-knit community helps to prevent students from falling through any cracks. In the First Year Seminar (FYS), groups of approximately 20 students are each paired with a faculty-administrator-peer mentor team, covering a series of topics to help ensure a successful transition to college. Students have access to free tutoring resources for quantitative skills, verbal skills, and written communication skills through the Mathematics Resource Center, Speech Resource Center, and Writing Center. We also offer the Sparks Tutoring Program, where students in selected courses also can receive free tutoring.

Several scholarship programs, such as the Posse Scholarship Program, the Diversity Leadership Award Program, and the Global Scholarship Program, are cohort-based programs which include mentoring components to provide support to ensure student success. We also have FirstGen@Babson, targeted to support first-generation college students. FirstGen@Babson offers regular programming to support community building, faculty relations, networking, and accessing/utilizing campus resources. This group recently received a grant from the Babson-Olin-Wellesley Consortium for a three-college collaboration, and students selected from this group will attend the national Class Action conference.

The counselors in Student Financial Services have extensive contact with parents, including by phone, email, and in person. We take great care to do individual outreach to students/parents who might need extra assistance completing the financial aid application requirements. More generally, the college hosts parent orientation and other programs, a parent e-newsletter, and various communications from the President’s Office to parents.


A brief description of the institution's scholarships for low-income students:

http://www.babson.edu/admission/tuition-aid/undergraduate/Pages/all-scholarship-details.aspx

Examples include:
- Babson Grant
- Babson Grant Merit Step
- Diversity Leadership Award
- Sorenson Arts Scholarship
- Gilbert Grant


A brief description of the institution’s targeted outreach to recruit students from low-income backgrounds:

Undergraduate Admission employs a number of outreach strategies, including:
(1) Multicultural Overnight Experience where students are provided travel grants to visit
(2) Travel grants made available at LaunchBabson as needed
(3)Partnerships with CBOs around the country, including but not limited to Uplift and Opportunity Network
(4) Attendance at events sponsored by Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
(5) Regional travel planning where visiting public schools is a priority
(6) Utilization of Slate to identify geo-markets that include a high percentage of low to moderate income college-bound students for use in travel planning
(7) Phone outreach to students of color and first gen applicants/admits
(8) Targeted fee waiver initiative in Boston, Lawrence, Massachusetts, and our Hub cities of Miami and San Francisco
(9) Finally, we have recently launched MyinTuition, a quick college cost estimator, which will allow prospective students/families an easy way to get a feel for their aid eligibility at Babson.


A brief description of the institution’s other policies or programs to make the institution accessible and affordable to low-income students:

Preference in hiring for on-campus jobs is given to students who applied for financial aid and qualified for Federal Work-Study.


Does the institution have policies and programs to support non-traditional students?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s scholarships provided specifically for part-time students:

There is no part-time undergraduate program.


A brief description of the institution’s on-site child care facility, partnership with a local facility, and/or subsidies or financial support to help meet the child care needs of students:
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A brief description of the institution’s other policies and programs to support non-traditional students:

The Babson Partners Program is made up of students and their spouses/partners and children who have joined them for their MBA experience. The Partners Club exists to help students, their spouses, and their families get settled into your new home, meet new friends, and enjoy their time as part of the Babson Community.

Examples of scholarships include:

(1) The Elizabeth Little Bodman Scholarship, which value varies according to need, and the criteria is need-based for women attending Babson mid-career. The scholarship is awarded based on the financial aid application

(2) The George I. Alden Scholarship, which value varies according to need, and its criteria is need-based for students who transfer from a Massachusetts Community College. The scholarship is awarded based on the financial aid application


Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (tracking accessibility and affordability)? (If data is not available, select 'No'):
Yes

The percentage of entering students that are low-income (0-100):
14

The graduation/success rate for low-income students (0-100):
82

On average, the percentage of need that was met for students who were awarded any need-based aid (e.g. as reported to the U.S. Common Data Set initiative, item H2) (0-100):
100

The percentage of students graduating with no interest-bearing student loan debt or for whom no out-of-pocket tuition is required (i.e. the percentage of graduates who have not taken out interest-bearing loans) (0-100):
60

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 (0-100):
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.