by Adina Spertus-Melhus, Fall 2015
The Flux Finance page is an attempt to explain the basics of Swarthmore’s financial systems. While there’s no such thing as a non-biased source, the goal was to provide the essential facts, particularly regarding polarizing issues like the endowment.
Information was collected through various means, including Swarthmore’s Finance and Investment Office webpage, articles and reports on college finance, campus newspaper publications, and conversations with staff, faculty, and students. Vice President of Finance Gregory Brown came to a Changemakers (ENVS 005) class to answer our questions about the technical side of Swarthmore’s finances.
As is the nature of financial operations (and pretty much everything covered on the Flux webpage), this information will change from when it was collected in Fall 2015. For this reason, we’ve included a page with additional resources, if you’re interested in digging deeper, or figuring this stuff out for a year after 2015.
Financial Aid Calculations:
Given the information provided through the Common Data Sets, it is difficult to calculate variations in financial aid by year. The following explanation first provides the data source, and then goes step-by-step to show how aid variation by year was calculated. (For the results of these calculations, see the Financial Aid section of the finance page.)
These calculations take into account the difference in the Summer Earnings Requirement between Freshmen and non-Freshmen. It does not take into account the College’s new policy to not fully discount outside scholarships from aid packages, because this was implemented after the 2014-2014 CDS was published.
The CDS provides information on average financial aid allocations to first year students and average allocations to all students. With a little bit of math, this can be used to compare aid given to Freshmen and non-Freshmen (Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors). But because in any given year the intensity of student need may vary, it’s problematic to compare average aid awards between class years. To avoid this problem, the “predicted” amount a non-Freshman would pay in any given year was calculated based off the aid given to first years from the previous three years. (Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors will always be the sum of the Freshman classes of the previous three years.) This was adjusted for inflation, and compared to what the non-Freshmen actually paid in those years. These calculations operated on the assumption that, on average, students’ financial situations would not fluctuate dramatically. For example, a younger sibling entering college could lead to an increase in financial aid. Obviously this would not be appropriate to assume for an individual student, but it’s expected to average out across students.
Data Source: Swarthmore Common Data Sets, 2001-2015.
Within the Common Data Set, here are the lines that the following information was draw from:
CDS Data | CDS Line(s) | Spreadsheet Column(s) |
Tuition, Fees, Room & Board, Total Cost | G1. | B-E |
Number of Freshman on Financial Aid | H2.d | F |
Average Freshman need-based scholarship or grant award* | H2.k | G |
Number of Students on Financial Aid | H2.d | J |
Average need-based scholarship or grant award* | H2.k | I |
* “Need‐based scholarship or grant aid: Scholarships and grants from institutional, state, federal, or other sources for which a student must have financial need to qualify.” (pg. 46)
Inflation was calculated using a Bureau of Labor Statistics Calculator, to bring values into 2014 dollars when necessary.
Step-by-step Calculations, with spreadsheet columns:
(Assume each step is calculated for each year.)
- The total aid awarded to Freshmen (H) was calculated by multiplying the average Freshman aid award (G) by the number of Freshmen on aid (F).
- The total aid awarded to all students (K) was calculated by multiplying the average aid award for all students (I) by the number of students on aid (J).
- The number of non-Freshmen on aid (L) was calculated by subtracting the number of Freshmen on aid (F) from the total number of students on aid (J).
- The total amount of aid awarded to non-Freshmen (M) was calculated by subtracting the total amount of aid awarded to Freshmen (H) from the total amount of aid awarded to all students (K).
- The average amount of aid awarded to non-Freshmen (N) was calculated by dividing the total amount of aid awarded to non-Freshmen (M) by the number of non-Freshmen on aid (L).
- The average amount a Freshman on aid pays (O) was calculated by subtracting the average Freshman aid award (G) from the total cost of attending Swarthmore (E).
- The average amount a non-Freshman on aid pays (P) was calculated by subtracting the average non-Freshman aid award (N) from the total cost of attending Swarthmore (E).
- To account for the fact that Freshmen on aid are expected to make an average of $500 less than non-Freshmen for their Summer Earnings Requirement ($2,000 vs. $2,500), $500 was added to the average amount a Freshman on aid pays (O) in column Q. This will become necessary for future calculations, because we want to compare what Freshmen are paying with what non-Freshmen are paying.
- The number of Freshmen (F) composing the Freshmen classes of the previous three years was summed (R). For example, in 2014, the number of Freshmen from 2013 + 2012 + 2011 were summed. This provides an estimate for the number of non-Freshmen on aid in a given year.
- The total amount that non-Freshmen paid as Freshmen (adjusted for the $500 Summer earnings difference) in the previous three years (S) was calculated as follows: The average amount a Freshman pays plus $500 (Q) was multiplied with the total number of Freshmen in each of the three previous years (F).
- The average amount that a non-Freshman is predicted to pay, based on the amount the Freshmen on aid paid in the three previous years, adjusted for the number of students in each year, (T,) was calculated as follows: the total amount that non-Freshmen paid as Freshman (adjusted for the $500 Summer earnings difference) in the previous three years (S) was divided by the number of Freshmen on aid for the previous three years (R).
- The difference in the amount of money that non-Freshmen paid, versus what they were estimated to pay based on the aid awarded to Freshmen from the previous three years, (U,) was calculated by subtracting the predicted amount the average non-Freshman would pay based on Freshmen aid from the previous three years (T) from the average amount that non-Freshmen paid (P). This column shows how much more or less the average non-Freshman will pay, in a given year, than what they would be predicted to pay based on the Freshman aid data from the previous three years.
Steps 13 to 17 repeat the previous calculation, accounting for inflation by adjusting the values into 2014 dollars.
- In column V, the average amount a Freshman pays plus $500 (Q) was converted into 2014 dollars.
- In column W, the total amount that non-Freshmen paid as Freshmen (adjusted for the $500 Summer earnings difference) in the previous three years (S) was converted into 2014 dollars as follows: the average amount a Freshman pays plus $500, in 2014 dollars (V) was multiplied with the total number of Freshmen in each of the three previous years (F).
- In column X, the average amount that a non-Freshman is predicted to pay, based on the amount the Freshmen on aid paid in the three previous years, adjusted for the number of students in each year, (T,) was converted into 2014 dollars as follows: the total amount that non-Freshmen paid as Freshmen (adjusted for the $500 Summer earnings difference) in previous three years, in 2014 dollars (W) was divided by the number of Freshmen on aid for the previous three years (R).
- In column Y, the average amount that non-Freshmen pay (P) was converted into 2014 dollars.
- Finally, in column Z, the difference in the amount of money that non-Freshmen paid, versus what they were estimated to pay based on the aid awarded to Freshmen from the previous three years, was calculated in 2014 dollars as follows: the average amount that a non-Freshman is predicted to pay, in 2014 dollars (X) was subtracted from the average amount that non-Freshmen actually paid, in 2014 dollars (Y).
See something fishy? Email us at swatflux@gmail.com.
You can download the excel document here.