Letters: Rosement's tuition cut benefits low-income students

ISSUE | COLLEGE TUITION

An interview with Widener University President Julie E. Wollman (Sunday) contained several comments about Rosemont College's recent tuition reset that were incorrect.

We wanted our 43 percent tuition reduction to reach middle-income families, who find themselves the most "squeezed" when it comes to paying for college. They are neither wealthy enough to afford the full published price nor financially needy enough to qualify for the state and federal grants offered to lower-income families.

The tuition reset was strongly motivated by our desire to "stop playing the game." Families deserve to know what the real cost of tuition is, not be deluded by a false sticker price that may or may not be discounted by grants.

Our reset did not limit the enrollment of lower-income students. Rosemont historically has enrolled the largest percentage of Pell grant recipients - students whose household income is typically $30,000 or below - of any peer college or university in the region. Since 2009, the percentage of Rosemont students attending college on Pell grants has been 50 percent or more. This year, 61 percent of our full-time, first-time students are on a Pell grant. Our mission dictates that we provide access, and the reset has only expanded this.

|Sharon Latchaw Hirsh, president, Rosemont College, Rosemont, president@rosemont.edu