It's a story we've told a number of times. Annual tuition increases, student loan stress and the impact of the recession on our university all essentially revolve around the same central issue: DePauw is expensive.
This issue comes up again as the financial aid office shifts its strategy from high-cost, high-discount to one of high-cost, high-desirability.
The financial aid available to students who might not qualify for need-based grants, loans or scholarships is something of an ace up the Office of Admissions' sleeve. Diminishing its presence will have a huge impact on how the university recruits the majority of its students, and it's a bold move with potential for significant consequences both positive and negative.
On the positive, DePauw is much more than a discount education, and this new strategy certainly reflects that. Relying on the real DePauw as a selling point rather than a scholarship package could remind prospective students what this university is really about — academic rigor and an engaging experience — and improve our standing as a prestigious liberal arts college on the national scale. And if more students come to DePauw for the university itself than because of a robust financial aid package, the sustainability of a new freshman class will be less subject to economic fluctuation, making it more stable in the long-run.
Unfortunately, the negative realities are also severe and potentially longstanding. DePauw's price tag ($47,000 this year) already has the potential to alienate prospective students not comfortably able to make such a significant cash investment. This strategic change could potentially exacerbate an already persistent camus issue.