Emerson College was recently ranked the number one college for worst financial aid in the United States, according to a list published by the Princeton Review.
The Princeton Review releases an annual ranking of the best and worst colleges by category, ranging from happiest students to worst dining hall food. Emerson’s annual tuition for full-time students is $52,896, not including living expenses. As the average household income is $74,580, Emerson is not an affordable school for the typical U.S. student, according to the Princeton Review.
“The college has two key priorities regarding financial aid for eligible students at Emerson: streamlining and improving the financial aid process for students, and assisting those students with the highest need,” said Michelle Gaseau, Emerson’s senior director of strategic communications and media relations, in an email to the Beacon.
Emerson has pledged to help students who struggle financially pay for tuition costs through various student debt relief plans, like federal unsubsidized and subsidized loans, merit based, and need based scholarships, and even some outside scholarships. The college recently introduced a new Tuition Relief Grant for students in high need of financial aid, according to the financial aid department.
“One example of this is the automatic Tuition Relief Grant, which is targeted to students with the greatest financial need,” Gaseau said. “This replaces a previous tuition offset fund that required an application and review process. This new automatic Tuition Relief Grant initiative is aimed at fulfilling both priorities.”
With this new Tuition Relief Grant, Emerson hopes that more students will be able to attend the school with less financial burden. In addition to the relief grant, President Jay Bernhardt and the financial aid department are working towards other actions to help make attending Emerson more affordable for students and their families..
“One of President Bernhardt’s top priorities is increasing and strengthening philanthropy so that Emerson can offer additional aid,” Gaseau said.
The Emerson College Student Union (ECSU), the student-led organization intending to lower tuition and raise awareness about financial aid options at Emerson, aims to influence and inform the financial aid department of student struggles regarding paying for school.
“Amidst multiple consecutive years of student outrage at Emerson over tuition hikes and a lack of proportional raises to financial aid, grants, and scholarships, the students have grown so frustrated with Emerson’s financial aid system that they’ve given it the lowest satisfaction rating of any financial aid system in the country,” said the ECSU in a statement to the Beacon.
The ESCU believes that Emerson has the resources to provide better financial aid to students but chooses to spend their money elsewhere. They also said that affording tuition at Emerson has been a continuous problem throughout the years, and more often than not, alumni graduate with outstanding student debt.
“If Emerson focused on a student, staff, and faculty-centered approach, where the school’s educational functioning is the top priority, they wouldn’t have this problem with alumni,” ECSU said. “Don’t start with investments in fundraising. Start with providing for your community, thus making them want to give back in return.”
