This article discusses the gap in graduation rates between Pell Grant students and non-Pell Grant students at Western Washington University. Data shows that Pell Grant students graduate at a rate 7.2% lower than their non-Pell Grant peers. There are a variety of factors that could contribute to this gap, including financial challenges and the transition to college for first-generation students. University programs aim to help Pell Grant students succeed through advising, mentorship, and academic support courses, but officials note more can still be done to help students utilize available resources.

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Graphic by Janae Easlon // Compiled by Sara Helmsl
Pell Grant students see gap in graduation rates
No Washington
universities, including
Western, made the list of
schools providing
exemplary access,
opportunity and success
for low­income students,
according to a report
released by the U.S.
Department of Education.
At Western, this trend is
best observed when
comparing the graduation
rates of students
receiving financial aid
versus those who do not.
Western students
receiving Pell Grants
graduate at a rate 7.2
percent lower than their
peers, according to a
2015 report from the
university’s Office of
Institutional Research.
Pell grants are federal grants given to students that demonstrate financial need through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Last year, approximately 21 percent of Western’s incoming freshmen were Pell Grant recipients.
Joan Ullin is the assistant director of Multicultural Support Programs and Retention at Western’s Student Outreach Services. Her
department serves first­generation students who may be Pell Grant eligible. There are a variety of factors that could be affecting
graduation rates of students, Ullin said.
“When you’re coming in with different identities, that could mean different challenges,” Ullin said. “One of them might be financial aid
challenges, but that’s not the only thing.”
Graduation rates of students receiving Pell Grants are 5.7 percent lower than those of students not receiving the federal aid,
according to a nationwide study released in 2015 by The Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that analyzes national data on
students.
At Western, 72.3 percent of non­Pell students entering as freshmen in fall of 2009 graduated within six years. In comparison, 65.1
percent of students receiving Pell Grants graduated in six years.
Ullin said the reason behind this gap in graduation rates is caused by the transition for students who may be the first in their family to
attend college or the strong cultural and family ties students leave behind when going to college.
Senior Kenny Torre works as a front desk staff at Student Outreach Services. Torre speculates students are not aware of the
abundant resources available to them, which are funded in large by the student services and activity fee paid by each student every
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quarter.
First generation and Pell Grant eligible students are contacted through email during Summer Start and notified of the different
programs and services offered at Student Outreach Services. However, Torre and his colleagues say they would like to see the
services Western offers marketed toward students.
Emmanuel Camarillo, an academic support coordinator at Student Outreach Services, teaches the course “Purposeful Learning”
(EDUC­108), a class designed for first­year students. The course covers time management, study skills and career options. This
course is an extension of the advising done in the Student Outreach Services office.
Camarillo estimates approximately 80 students took the “Purposeful Learning” course during the 2015­2016 academic year.
According to the Office of Institutional Research, that accounts for about 13 percent of the Pell Grant recipients enrolled in fall of
2015.
Torre is also a peer mentor for the Student Outreach Services’ Mentor Project, a program designed to help, advise and provide
resources for Pell­eligible, minority and first­year students.
As a peer mentor, Torre works with incoming freshmen as an adviser and a liaison to the different resources on campus.
“[We] make sure these freshmen are really transitioning well into their first year of college at the university,” he said.
Senior Le’Ana Freeman, also a front desk staff and peer mentor at Student Outreach Services, said the mentorship offered at the
office has been helpful to Freeman for her four years at Western.
“There’s a lot of really wonderful services here,” Freeman said. “We would like to see more students coming in and using the
services.”
But as Ullin explained, ensuring students succeed is a whole­house effort.
“We are not the only office serving first­gen or Pell Grant eligible [students]. The entire university is serving the populations we
serve,” Ullin said. “We’re all helping our students walk a pathway toward success and whatever they came here [to become], to be
great at it.”
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