Over the past several decades, Washington University in St. Louis has evolved from a locally oriented institution to one of national prominence. It has built dozens of gleaming new buildings and established academic programs that are now ranked among the country’s best. More than nine in 10 of its students graduate in four years. And, with an endowment of $6.7-billion, it is now one of the wealthiest colleges in the nation. In its rise, however, Washington University earned a less-flattering distinction. It has become, by one measure, the least economically diverse top college in the United States. Just 6 percent of its undergraduates received a Pell Grant last year, federal data show.

February 26, 2015 ・ From Chronicle of Higher Education