Why colleges are using algorithms to determine financial aid levels
Lilah Burke
September 5, 2023
The practice can help colleges optimally distribute their limited resources, but it could also cause issues for students and even create legal risk.
As technology has grown more sophisticated, algorithms have slowly crept into more and more operations on college campuses.
Take admissions, where some colleges are using artificial intelligence to help them decide whether to admit a student. While that practice is still somewhat rare, four-year institutions are more commonly using algorithms to help with another admissions decision — how much aid to offer already admitted students.
If an institution has limited resources, education experts say, an algorithm can help optimize how aid is distributed. Others say the practice could cause issues for students and even open institutions up to potential legal risk.
