As 2007 drew to a close, four of the nation’s most selective colleges: Harvard, Duke, Swarthmore and Pomona, all announced plans to revamp their financial aid policies by replacing loans with grants. Other institutions, most notably Princeton and Columbia, had already implemented similar plans.
Harvard’s policy is novel; according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the university announced that families with incomes between $120,000 and $180,000 would be asked to contribute no more than 10 percent of their student’s total expenses for college, while the neediest families would pay nothing. Harvard will raise its student financial aid budget by $22 million to implement this policy. With a $35 billion endowment, highest in the nation, Harvard can afford to do it; the added monies for aid are just a drop in the bucket.
This is good news for anyone wishing to apply to Harvard; cost is less of a detriment to well-qualified candidates in upper middle class families. A $180,000 family income gets spread awfully thin when there’s more than one child in college and the family lives in a high-cost metro area. But if cost is less of a detriment to going to Harvard, than Harvard will become more selective, because the […]

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