University of Houston medical school lobbies for bigger Pell Grants to support diversity
Jeremiah Poff
EXCLUSIVE — The University of Houston College of Medicine says part of its institutional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion includes lobbying for the doubling of the federal Pell Grant program, new documents revealed.
In a series of responses to a survey by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Texas medical school said lobbying the federal government to double the maximum award for Pell Grants was an example of the institution’s advocacy for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the public policy level.
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The school’s responses to the AAMC’s Diversity, Inclusion, Culture, and Equity Inventory survey were obtained by the medical watchdog group Do No Harm through a Freedom of Information Act request and shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner. Among the dozens of questions included in the survey was whether or not the school had advocated at the national, state, and local level for policies and legislation in line with diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.
“At the federal level, the University advocates for legislation and policies that make a college education more affordable for all students, no matter their race, sexual orientation or immigration status,” the school said in the survey. “For instance, the University of Houston is currently advocating to double the maximum allowable Pell Grant award, which would reduce [the] burden of student loans for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.”
Pell grants, one of the federal government’s financial aid awards, are reserved for students from lower-income households. The Biden administration recently increased the maximum award by $500 to nearly $7,400 following the passage of the federal omnibus spending bill. The administration has said its goal is to ultimately double the maximum award from its 2020 level to reach almost $13,000. Nearly 60% of black students receive Pell Grants and 47% of Hispanic students.
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In another part of the survey, the school touted how it required its admission staff to take a training “to reduce bias” when accepting applicants, which the school said “contributed to the first two classes being extremely diverse” following the training. The school did, however, admit that it lacked “specific [diversity] goals and outcomes” that it could communicate to the student body.
The medical school is among the smallest and newest in the nation. The inaugural class of 30 students began in the fall of 2020 on full-tuition scholarships paid for by an anonymous donor. The school opened a new $80 million facility in October that will eventually serve nearly 500 students.
Despite the college’s short history, Do No Harm board Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb said a broad institutional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, especially in admissions policies, could be harmful to the medical profession, which he said was “intellectually very demanding.”
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“I couldn’t care if the medical school class were black or Asian or white or whatever it was,” he said. “The question is, are they the most capable? And this is one field where I don’t think we have the luxury of sacrificing quality for diversity.”
The University of Houston did not respond to a request for comment.