"We start with the idea of belonging," says Jenny Wood Crowley, associate vice president of strategic enrollment management. "That isn't just a buzzword. It's something we've studied, measured and built into the student experience."
Long before the concept became a staple of higher education conversations after the pandemic, Duke researchers were examining what helps students feel connected to their campus community. The work of Duke faculty member Steve Asher and researcher Molly Weeks helped identify a surprisingly simple finding: Students who develop a meaningful relationship with at least one adult on campus report higher levels of engagement, stronger academic confidence and a deeper sense of belonging.
"Students who feel seen and understood do better," Crowley says. "They develop a stronger sense of themselves as members of the Duke community."
Those findings have shaped everything from advising and residential life to orientation programs and academic initiatives. Rather than viewing student success as strictly an academic outcome, Duke has increasingly embraced a holistic approach that recognizes students as whole people.
"We don't see students as academic robots or simply future professionals," Crowley says. "We think about their personal growth, their relationships, their sense of community and how all of those things contribute to success."
That philosophy has become especially important as Duke's student population has grown more economically diverse. Over the past several years, the university has made a significant commitment to recruiting and supporting first-generation and lower-income students, pairing financial aid investments with programs designed to help students thrive once they arrive.
"The goal was never simply to admit more students from different backgrounds and wish them luck," Crowley says. "We wanted to build the support structures that would help them succeed."
That support begins before students even enroll. Through outreach initiatives, fly-in programs and family engagement efforts, Duke works to help prospective students envision themselves on campus. Once they arrive, resources range from mentoring and advising to technology support, tutoring and specialized programs through DukeLIFE, which serves first-generation and lower-income students.
Yet Crowley believes the university's greatest strength isn't any single program.
"It's the people," she says.
Whether in classrooms, residence halls or advising offices, she sees a culture built around personal connection.
"I think Duke hires people who genuinely care about students," Crowley says. "Faculty don't see undergraduates as distractions from their work. They see them as part of the reason they do their work."
That emphasis on relationships extends beyond academics. Crowley points to Duke's residential model, orientation programs and campus traditions as examples of intentional efforts to create community. Even initiatives such as QuadEx, which reshaped the undergraduate residential experience, were informed by years of research into how students form friendships and navigate campus life.
The result, she says, is an environment that often surprises students who arrive expecting an intensely competitive culture.
"Duke is certainly rigorous," Crowley says. "But what I hope students discover is that you can be brilliant and kind. You can challenge one another's ideas while still respecting one another's humanity."
In an era when higher education faces growing scrutiny, Crowley believes that commitment to human connection may be one of Duke's most important strengths.
"What we're really doing," she says, "is helping students become thoughtful, engaged people who know how to learn from others, build community and make a difference in the world."
For Miranda McCall, financial aid isn't an abstract policy discussion or a budget line item. It's personal.
"I received financial aid myself," said McCall, associate vice provost and director of undergraduate financial support at Duke. "It was the only way I was able to attend college."
Opening Doors: Duke's Financial Aid Mission Changes Lives
That experience shapes the way she approaches her work today. Every day, she helps oversee a program designed to ensure that talented students can attend Duke regardless of their financial circumstances – a commitment she believes sits at the heart of the university's mission.
"We want to be able to admit the best and brightest students," McCall said. "How much financial capacity a student's family has has nothing to do with their potential."
Today, roughly half of Duke undergraduates receive some form of financial aid. Many come from families who could not otherwise afford a university whose annual cost of attendance now approaches $100,000.
"Most of America is not going to be able to afford to come to Duke without financial aid," McCall said. "The program is as important now as it has ever been."
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A Commitment Decades in the Making
Duke's modern approach to financial aid traces back to a significant initiative launched in 2008, when university leaders reimagined how aid could be used to expand access and opportunity.
One of the most striking outcomes of that commitment is a statistic McCall often shares with prospective students and families.
"If you go back 20 years and ask what the average aided student paid after financial aid was applied, it was around $23,000 a year," she said. "The cost on average after aid this most recent academic year is still around $23,000."
In other words, while the university's published price has increased over time, the average net cost paid by students receiving aid has remained remarkably stable.
"We have not increased our price for students on financial aid in two decades," McCall said.
That stability matters because many families are understandably intimidated by Duke's sticker price.
"People perceive the cost of Duke as completely out of reach," she said. "But they haven't really scratched the surface to understand how financial aid works."
The university's commitment extends beyond the initial admission offer. Students whose financial circumstances remain unchanged can expect their aid to rise as Duke's costs rise.
"If your financial circumstances are the same for the next four years, your aid increases as our cost increases," McCall explained. "You're not paying that difference."
More Than Tuition
Financial aid at Duke extends far beyond tuition bills.
McCall points to a broad network of support designed to help students navigate challenges that arise during their college years.
Families who experience job loss, significant medical expenses, or other major financial disruptions can request aid reassessments. Students who need university-approved health insurance receive assistance if they qualify for need-based aid. Financial support also helps address expenses that many families may never anticipate before arriving on campus.
"We've spent a lot of time investing in the behind-the-scenes support," McCall said. "The things that people don't always see."
Those hidden investments can make a profound difference.
"No student chooses Duke because of those kinds of investments," she said. "But they make all the difference in a student actually being cared for and having success."
The philosophy is simple.
"If it makes a difference, it's worth our effort."
Ensuring Students Can Say Yes
One of the most powerful moments in McCall's work comes when students realize that attending Duke is actually possible.
She recalled countless stories of students who initially assumed admission to Duke would remain financially out of reach.
"We want any admitted student to be able to say yes at the end," she said.
That mission has become increasingly important as universities compete to attract talented students from a broad range of economic backgrounds. At the same time, sustaining a financial aid program of this scale requires significant resources.
Only about one-third of Duke's annual financial aid expenditures are currently supported through endowment funds. The remainder must come from other university resources and philanthropy.
"Philanthropy is vital for us," McCall said. "What we need to be able to do is use our revenue sources for all the things Duke wants to accomplish while continuing to fund student access."
For McCall, the equation is straightforward: Investing in financial aid means investing in future leaders.
"They can't say yes to us without our help," she said.
A Global Education
Duke's commitment to access extends beyond Durham.
Many students are surprised to learn that their financial aid follows them when they study abroad.
"A student's family contribution remains the same whether they are studying at Duke or studying abroad," McCall explained.
The university also helps students navigate expenses associated with international experiences, including travel-related costs that can become barriers for lower-income students.
For first-generation students and those who may never have traveled outside their home state, those opportunities can be transformative.
"Imagine being a rural student who's never left your home state, never flown, and now having the opportunity not just to learn a language, but to learn it in-country," McCall said. "It's life changing."
Those experiences, she believes, expand horizons in ways that cannot be replicated in a classroom alone.
"The world suddenly opens."
A Personal Mission
McCall understands the importance of educational opportunity because she once stood on the receiving end of it.
Raised in a military family, she attended college with the help of financial aid. A chance encounter with a college representative ultimately changed the trajectory of her life.
"Financial aid was the only way I went," she said.
After earning degrees in history, religion and business, McCall built a career in higher education and eventually found her way to Duke – a place she had long admired for its approach to student support. For the past 15 years, she has helped shape programs designed to remove barriers for students from every background.
"I hate to see any kid with great potential limited by that equation," she said.
No financial aid program can erase every difference in resources or circumstance. McCall acknowledges that reality. But she believes universities have a responsibility to remove as many obstacles as possible.
"We can't remove every barrier," she said. "But we can remove as many as we can."
That commitment, she argues, reflects something deeper than policy.
"There is a mindset here," McCall said. "When we do something, we are investing in student success, regardless of whether that's ever well known."