Institutional Resilience in Puerto Rico: A First Look at Efforts by Puerto Rican HSIs

Table 3. Five-Year Changes in Cost of Attendance and Financial Aid at Inter Arecibo
Cost of attendance:
living off campus w/o
family
Cost of attendance:
living off campus
with family
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
5-Yr
Change
$19,348 $21,989 $21,989 $22,453 $23,553 s
$12,034 $12,725 $12,725 $12,647 $13,747 s
Grant Aid $5,330 $5,194 $5,003 $5,469 $6,567 s
Pell Grant $5,039 $4,962 $4,763 $5,430 $5,443 s
Federal Student
Loans
$3,580 $2,992 $3,571 $3,421 $3,091 t
Note: See Appendix for accompanying charts, variable definitions and sources.
The cost of attendance at Inter Arecibo
has increased over the last five years, and
Pell Grants make up the majority of grant
aid awarded. The cost of attendance at Inter
Arecibo for students that either live off campus
with their family or that live off campus without
family has steadily increased (by $1,700 and
$4,200, respectively). In terms of financial aid,
Pell Grants made up more than 95% of grant aid
awarded, until 2020 when Pell Grants were about
83% of grant aid awarded, see Figure A3. The
amount of federal student loans borrowed was
lower than grant aid awarded, and the amount
borrowed has decreased in recent years. Overall,
there is a significant gap between the cost of
attendance and grant aid awarded.
The number of total faculty has decreased
at Inter Arecibo over five years. Total faculty,
tenured faculty, and faculty not on tenure track
have all decreased since 2016 (by 14 faculty
overall), see Figure A4.
The number of certificates and degrees
awarded to students at Inter Arecibo has
fluctuated over five years. While the number
of certificates and degrees awarded to students
decreased slightly in the years after Hurricane
Maria, that number has increased by 10 from
2019 to 2020, see Figure A5.
Inter Arecibo’s revenues have remained
relatively similar over the past five years.
From 2016 to 2020, Inter Arecibo’s revenues
remained about the same (fluctuating slightly
between $24 million compared to $22 million
during this time). Additionally, Inter Arecibo’s
main source of revenue is tuition and fees, see
Figure A6.
Inter Arecibo’s expenditures have remained
relatively constant over the past five years
with a slight decrease in 2020. From 2016
to 2019, Inter Arecibo’s expenditures remained
constant at about $21 million, but dropped slightly
to $20 million in 2020, see Figure A7.
The following sections summarize the key
takeaways from Excelencia’s interviews with
institutional leadership at Inter Arecibo.
14 INSTITUTIONAL RESILIENCE IN PUERTO RICO: A First Look at Efforts by Puerto Rican HSIs