When colleges talk about "diversity," what does that entail?

Joan Isaac Mohr
Vice President and Dean of Admissions
Quinnipiac University
You can measure a college’s diversity in comparison to others in similar settings and similar types of colleges. Colleges also look for geographic diversity (not all students coming from the same state or region of the country), economic diversity (looking for students who come from a variety of economic backgrounds, for instance, or measuring the percent of students who are PELL recipients, as determined on the FAFSA information), and the percent of students who are first generation college attendees in their families. These are all indicators of diversity.