The College Access Index created by The Upshot measures the efforts that top colleges make on helping low income students. The rankings are based on the amount of students at each institution that receive Pell grants (which normally go to families that make less than $70,000 per year. But the rankings also consider the graduation rate of those students; and the price that colleges charge both low- and middle-income students.
Here are the top 10 colleges doing the most for low-income students:
Rank/ College/ Freshman Class/ Pell Grad Share/ Net Price, Middle Income/ College Access Index/ Endowment Per Student:
#1 - University of California-Irvine: 5,449/ 40/ $13K/ 1.81/ $11K
#2 - University of California-Davis: 5,063/ 31/ $14K/ 1.62/ $24K
#3 - University of California-Santa Barbara: 4,597/ 31/ $14K/ 1.61/ $11K
#4 - University of California-San Diego: 5,218/ 28/ $13K/ 1.55/ $24K
#5 - University of California-Los Angeles: 5,684/ 28/ $13K/ 1.53/ $65K
#6 - University of Florida: 6,348/ 24/ $9K/ 1.52/ $29K
#7 - University of California-Berkeley: 4,677/ 23/ $13K/ 1.37/ $92K
#8 - Vassar: 662/ 22/ $12K/ 1.36/ $352K
#9 - Amherst: 466/ 20/ $11K/ 1.33/ $930K
#10 - Pomona: 396/ 18/ $9K/ 1.32/ $1.1147m
To see the full list, visit: www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/17/upshot/top-colleges-doing-the-most-for-low-income-students.html
