Jewett Says Increasing Costs May Affect College's Make-Up

Rising costs are making it more difficult for middle-income families to send their children to Harvard, L. Fred Jewett '57, dean of admissions at Harvard, said Friday.

Jewett said guidelines for determining how much parents must contribute to their children's education have caused the recent decline in the number of middle-income applicants to Harvard.

He called the guidelines, formulated by the College Scholarship Service in Princeton, N.J., "unrealistic" in their assessment of what parents in the $17,000 to $35,000 income bracket can afford to pay to colleges.

The guidelines are cooperatively followed by schools across the country but parents are generally asked to pay the full assessment only at very expensive schools, such as Harvard.

Jewett said the Harvard and Radcliffe financial aid offices would undertake a study this summer of current CSS guidelines and possible changes in them.

"Harvard is simply pricing itself out of the market for these people," Jewett said. "How much sacrifice can Harvard ask a family to make to send their child here?"

Potential Changes

Jewett said the trend toward fewer middle-income applicants has not considerably altered the makeup of next year's freshman class as compared to other classes, but was the cause of some concern within the administration. He said that the trend could lead to a significant change in class composition in the next decade if the trend is not checked.

No Cutbacks

Harvard will not cut back on its aid to low-income families because of the new pressures on middle-income students, Jewett said.

Jewett said Friday that the middle-class students who can no longer afford to come to Harvard are being replaced by students from upper economic strata "who don't seem to worry about paying $6000 a year to attend Harvard."