5-12-09: Stanford: New student programs hit by cuts

The economic crisis is creating obstacles for Stanford’s continued efforts to increase programming for low-income and first-generation college students, according to University administrators.

Last summer, the offices of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) and the Vice Provost for Student Affairs (VPSA) hired Siobhan Greatorex-Voith to direct a year-long pilot project called the “First Generation Program,” providing resources to first-generation and low-income students.

Due to the economic crunch, however, Greatorex-Voith’s contract will not be renewed for the next academic year after it expires on Aug. 31. She will be replaced by Greg Graves, who will work part-time at the Native American Cultural Center and part-time on first-generation student issues for the VPSA.

Other programs have also been affected by the economic crunch. The Bridge Program — a VPUE project proposed last year and supported by the President’s Fund — aims to assist low-income students or students from under-resourced high schools in making the transition to Stanford. Although it was never fully underway, the project has been put on hold indefinitely until there is a shift in the economic climate. Administrators still claim that the program will go forward once the recession subsides.

“I have every expectation that when the economic crisis resolves, we will resume the planning efforts for The Bridge Program with full force and enthusiasm,” said Julie Lythcott-Haims ‘89, who has been involved with the program as dean of freshmen and transfer students.

According to Sally Dickson, assistant vice provost for Student Affairs, the cuts in VPSA have been made with the intention of retaining “core” elements within offices.

“We all know that the economic crunch is going to have an impact; what the actual outcome of that impact will be we don’t know yet,” Dickson said. “What our concern is, is that each office is still able to carry out its core of responsibilities and functions to our students.”

This is of particular importance with first-generation and low-income students, who make up a significant proportion of the Stanford student body.

According to Greatorex-Voith, official data from the Office of Undergraduate Admission says that 17.5 percent of the freshman class is made up of first-generation students, and that number has gradually increased.

However, financial data is confidential and so the classification of low-income students is not entirely clear. Greatorex-Voith estimated that the number of low-income students ranges from 12-20 percent of the undergraduate student body. Thirteen percent of students receive PELL grants, which the federal government awards to students whom it qualifies as low-income. When those groups combine, the number increases even further and has been “guesstimated” to be roughly around 24 percent of the student body, Greatorex-Voith said.

“The Stanford community has always included first-generation students and low-income students,” Lythcott-Haims said, “and over the years we have developed greater competence around understanding the barriers they encounter and providing the resources necessary to help them have full access to the full set of opportunities a Stanford education has to offer.”

Greatorex-Voith’s position has involved looking into better practices to evaluate students’ experiences holistically.

“Part of the pilot has been research-based,” she said. “I have been assessing what students’ needs are, what their experiences are, meeting with students; so, some of the research has been more qualitative. I talk to students and help connect them with the resources that are available on campus. I’ve been more of a connector and emotional social support in that sense.”

Greatorex-Voith also worked with students to build communities on campus. Among those is Next Gen, an organization that puts on programming across campus for low-income and first-generation students, and also has participants reach out to their hometown schools and assist students through the application and scholarship process.

“Siobhan, she’s… wow,” said Michael McDaniels ’08, president of Next Gen. “I’m so happy that her position was put in place because prior to this, when we started last year, there was nobody, and now we actually have someone in the administration who can lobby for us. It has been a lot easier just to get things done to gain legitimacy because she has the legitimacy of an administrator. I think that it also helps that she has some extra funding, so if we want to have an event, she can chip in.”

Greatorex-Voith said she understood the reasoning behind the cut.

“I think that there was the intention there that it would continue,” she said, “but when the economy started to go downward and they were facing the challenge of where to cut, they were not looking at bringing in new budget line items when they were needing to cut back.”

Many students among the low-income and first-generation community said they are worried about the loss of Greatorex-Voith.

“We are going from someone who is sort of a recent graduate with a centralized understanding [and] who’s in the office five days a week, to someone who is not a recent graduate, must be fulfilling multiple roles and who will probably be in the office maybe one day a week,” said Heather Buckelew ’10, who identifies herself as both low-income and first-generation.

Graves, who will be taking over for Greatorex-Voith, did not return multiple requests for comment.

Knowing that she will not be here next year, Greatorex-Voith has made an effort to create long-term programming for these students. New Student Orientation (NSO) has been revamped to include low-income and first-generation programming. For the first time ever, there will be low-income and first-generation community coordinators, as well as three community orientation volunteers (COVs) to reach out to this group at the beginning of the year and create welcome events.

Class will also be an issue that is discussed during the NSO event FACES. Students within the community are hopeful that increased visibility of class differences on campus will decrease any sense of discomfort or shame amongst students. Furthermore, they hope that it will strengthen the community and give first-generation and low-income students an outlet that they might not have otherwise received.

“There are resources in community centers, but those resources aren’t available to everyone in the low-income and first-generation category,” Buckelew said. “I’m white, for example, and can’t go to El Centro Chicano.”

Students believe that one of the most crucial points is that there will be no changes to financial aid packages. Aside from financial aid, however, McDaniels said he worries for Next Gen’s continued funding — without Greatorex-Voith as an advocate in the administration — especially considering that Next Gen is a relatively new group on campus.

In spite of un-renewed positions and holds on programming, there is still hope amongst administrators for continued support of low-income and first-generation students.

“Commitment is still there, and the commitment to this community is still there,” Greatorex-Voith said.

“What our goal continues to be is to create a welcoming environment to all of our students and understanding that students from different backgrounds will have different experiences at Stanford, and we want to make sure that we are addressing their transition to Stanford,” Dickson said. “This also allows us to be thinking of socio-economic class in a very thoughtful way and to recognize that students from this community can add so much value to the experience for all Stanford students.”

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