Which Rutgers School Helps Low Income Students More?

Alivia Leon – Rutgers Financial Aid for Low Income Students

Rutgers University-New Brunswick, and Rutgers University- Camden, are two popular choices when students are searching for which school provides better financial aid. The more populated and popular choice-Rutgers New Brunswick- actually offers significantly less financial aid than Rutgers-Camden.

When looking at the two comparatively, Rutgers University New Brunswick is the school with less financial aid options for low income students.

In 2014, there was 30% Pell grants awarded to low income students, while Camden offered 48.1%. (https://projects.propublica.org/colleges/compare?id=186380,186371).

This is a huge difference when it comes down to the size of the schools. Rutgers University New Brunswick is far larger than the Camden campus, yet they award less to low income students.

When interviewing students from Rutgers-New Brunswick, I found that some struggled with financial aid while others did not as much. While they might be considered “average” students, the varying amount that they pay seems to be random.

Samantha Matthews, a sophomore at Rutgers University New Brunswick, struggles with her student financial aid. She was not awarded any money in grants, although she was a top student at her high school, and had been under the impression that she would be getting financial aid. She continues to pay full tuition. She states, “Succeeding in high school definitely does not guarantee money in college.”

On the other hand, Julia Gronowska, a junior at Rutgers University New Brunswick, was awarded a lot of money in grants and financial aid. She is enrolled in the honors program, which generally awards a lot of money. She states, “The honors program is really small, but it does have big rewards.”

Michelle Currieri, another junior at Rutgers University, had the same grade range as Gronowska. However, Currieri was not awarded any money whatsoever. Both Gronowska and Currieri are white, they both have the same grades, and both are in state, however were given different amounts of money.

On average, low income students at the New Brunswick campus paid $11,953 compared to $7,827 at the Camden campus.

Furthermore, the discount off total cost at the New Brunswick campus was 58%, while the Camden campus offered 67%.

These statistics are even more baffling when looking at the non repayment rate after graduation.

Rutgers University New Brunswick and Rutgers University Camden both have a non repayment rate of 31.9%. How is this possible when the rates for low income students are so drastically different?

The difference comes down to the difference in minorities in each school. New Brunswick has a white population of 43.3%, and a black population of 7.5%. Camden has a white population of 55% and a black population of 16.5%.