Creating a More Diverse Academic Community

“We All Fit Together” mural by Sherry Harris and Delphia Daniel’s kindergarten class.

Increasing financial aid to deserving students is just one way we are creating a more socioeconomically diverse community of learners.

By Nancy Ehringhaus, Director of Admissions and Financial Aid

T hrough our community-wide Strategic Planning process several years ago, a vision to fully prepare students to lead and thrive in a changing world rose to the top as a key priority for our school. Central to preparing our students for this world is creating a socioeconomically diverse academic community. In fact, research has proven that a diverse environment leads to better learning outcomes for all students.

To that end, the Board of Trustees formed a Financial Aid subcommittee that spent the better part of the 2015–16 academic year examining current practices, in light of our aspirations for the future. The committee recognized and researched the need and desire on the part of our community to build a student body more reflective of the broader community. It was determined that enrolling students who have the greatest financial need will naturally increase diversity of all kinds; and therefore, an increase in need-based financial aid will best help Country Day achieve its goals.

A Record of Success

We know that a student’s ability to succeed is not incumbent on his or her socioeconomic profile. Over the past 10 years, we have committed more than $16 million to financial aid recipients, who have matriculated to such fine institutions as University of Virginia, UNC-Chapel Hill, Davidson College, and Harvard Law School, and now are making an impact on our world for the better as lawyers, entrepreneurs, professors, and more. Over the past five years, we have also partnered with Sugar Creek Charter School, KIPP Academy Charlotte, and A Better Chance to attract talented and intellectually curious students who would flourish at an institution like Country Day, but who would not otherwise have the means to do so.

Yet, we aspire to do more. In academic year 2015–16, 16 percent of our students received financial aid. In contrast, the independent school national average last year was 21 percent. Nevertheless, the thirst and desire across Charlotte to attend Country Day is strong, as is Country Day’s desire to open our arms to talented students. Each year, we average between 15–20 students who qualify for admission, but neither Country Day, nor their families, have the resources to make a Country Day education a reality.

As Charlotte and Mecklenburg County strive to address and remedy the significant upward mobility challenges facing our community, Country Day is eager to be a part of the solution. In fact, Head of School Mark Reed is lending his personal and professional leadership to this community-wide issue through his role as chair of the Children and Youth Committee of the Foundation for the Carolinas. Providing educational access for talented students is just one way Country Day can partner with the greater Charlotte community in addressing the critical needs facing our community, while also creating an environment here at school that more accurately reflects the changing world around us.

Looking Ahead

With all this in mind, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the subcommittee recommendations of increasing financial aid offerings over the next four years in order to enable us to matriculate an additional 19 deserving students a year. This commitment increases our overall aid to 20 percent of our student body. Through both prudent fiscal planning by the Board, along with a strong culture of philanthropy, we are committed to offering assistance to an increasing number of deserving students.

As we wrap up another highly successful admissions season, I am delighted that we are able to both broaden our reach to exceptional and deserving children, while also enriching the educational experience for every Country Day student by creating a learning environment that increasingly reflects the world for which we are preparing them.

The last four years of graduates receiving financial aid include recipients of Morehead-Cain and Park Scholarships, military academy appointments, and student-athletes playing at Division I, II, and III colleges and universities.