This past week, the Wall Street Journal released its 2024 Best Colleges in America Ranking, placing the University of Utah as the 43rd best college in the country and 8th in public universities. Given the U’s past rankings — which were only in the top 100s — this was a huge milestone.
However, we must ask if Utah truly deserves to be ranked in the top 50s.
Over the past few decades, the U has pushed more policies to help welcome FGLI students on campus. It created the Office for First Generation Access in 2019 and provided students free access to public transportation to help lower commuter costs for students. Despite all this, the U is still missing the goalpost.
The U is Failing at Diversity
WSJ used three factors to decide their rankings. Student outcomes composed 70% of the total score, learning environment made up 20% and diversity was 10%. “Inclusion of students with lower family earnings” and ethnic diversity each only made up 1.5%.
After all the methodologies were accounted for, the U received a score of 79.3 overall and a mere diversity score of 47. Put simply, the U is a C+ school with a failing diversity score.
FGLI Students Are Struggling
Only about 21% of U students receive Pell Grants and about 25% of students identify as first-generation college students. This means a quarter of students either don’t have the means to pay for college expenses or don’t have parents and guardians who can help them navigate higher education. FGLI students fit into both of these identities.
Although the resources may exist, the U isn’t effectively targeting its intended audience. said First Generation Scholar Edgardo Chicas-Rubio shared his concerns by advising the U to better support these programs.
“Bringing more visibility and awareness to the resources could be the first step,” Chicas-Rubio said.
The U must offer more support aimed at helping marginalized students succeed. To resolve this, the U could increase funding for student organizations that help bridge these gaps.
FGLI students tend to live off campus more than their counterparts due to high housing costs, which creates academic disparities. The U should lower housing and tuition costs for its low-income students.
Supporting FGLI through Housing
The U has been adding more housing on campus, which could help more FGLI students compete for on-campus housing. President Taylor Randall has begun admitting 3% more freshmen than previous records, with the class of 2026 and 2027 having over 5,000 students. However, since only about 15% of students live on campus, this creates an extremely competitive environment for getting on-campus housing. Unless they are able to compete with their wealthier counterparts, this can leave many low-income students to commute.
Making on-campus housing more accessible could help many low-income students gain student-friendly housing environments and fully utilize available university resources, such as internships, clubs and organizations.
Scholarship Support
The U has spent the last couple of decades attempting to diversify its student body through initiatives like ethnicity-based and economic-based scholarships to encourage more low-income and ethnic minority students to apply and attend.
“Bringing more scholarships would be a big help and make sure the scholarships are visible to students,” Chicas-Rubio said.
The U must better alleviate college debt for its FGLI students. Some colleges are implementing programs in which Pell Grant recipients automatically get free tuition and housing. Multiple universities, such as the UC schools, Texas University, Ivy Leagues and Liberal Arts institutions have started meeting 100% of their financial need based on EFC on FAFSA.
Unfortunately, the U hasn’t done the same. The only financial aid Pell Grant recipients get from the U is through FAFSA, which only covers up to $7000 in tuition, not including room and board. The U’s FGLI students get the short end of the stick because of inadequate financial aid programs.
The U has a long way to go, but it can begin to deserve its ranking by listening to FGLI students’ financial aid needs.
