Bates College president vows to provide more aid for lower income students
May 9—LEWISTON — Students from lower income families who attend Bates College may get more help in years to come.
Though Bates already provides extensive financial aid to nearly half its students, its new president said it needs to go further.
Garry Jenkins said during his recent inaugural address that Bates "will continue to open the doors of opportunity wider to highly talented students from all backgrounds, geographies and family incomes."
Then he said that in addition to ensuring "access and opportunity," the college needs to equalize the experience it provides, "ensuring that all students can fully take advantage of all that Bates has to offer and fully thrive during their time here."
"We need to better understand the hidden costs of being a student at Bates," Jenkins said, "and think about addressing barriers to opportunity that are not necessarily covered by tuition — things like technology needs, summer research support, funded internship opportunities, graduate school test prep fees, travel and clothing funding for interviews and conferences, and so on."
"We don't want any of the great students we work so hard to recruit and identify to walk away from Bates or not fully realize the transformative opportunity we provide because of a lack of support," Jenkins said.
Those extra costs at some of Bates' peer institutions can include everything from new boots for students who can't afford them to costly laptops that allow them to flourish in classrooms.
"As we all know," Jenkins said, "attending an elite college or university places a significant financial burden on families."
"We want to educate the most promising students from a wide range of backgrounds," he said, because "we want Bates to be a place of opportunity for all."
Bates College charges a single fee to students to cover the cost of tuition, food and housing. It does not offer any merit scholarships but promises to provide 100% of the money needed by students to attend.
What that means in practice is that Bates awards more than $40 million in grant aid annually to about half its 1,800 enrolled students.
Tuition for the coming academic year is $85,370.
Bates said the average federal student loan debt for the class graduating last May was $14,508, less than half the national average for graduating seniors.
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