Follow the Leaders

Is Byerly Hall relying on the Harvard name? In the past month, Princeton, Yale and now Stanford universities have announced that they will work to make a college education more affordable by increasing financial aid, both by providing more grants and by disregarding at least $90,000 of income in calculating financial aid. These changes will make Princeton, Yale and Stanford better options for middle-class families who often find themselves in a financial crunch between their family contributions and their loan-heavy aid packages.

Princeton, Yale and Stanford are right to increase aid and right to acknowledge a serious threat to the their prestige: the growing numbers of top-notch students who opt to reject their admission offers in favor of highly ranked and significantly cheaper public universities like those in Chapel Hill, Berkeley and Ann Arbor. Now is the time for Harvard to acknowledge what it has at stake and to join Princeton, Yale and Stanford in providing better financial aid packages for its students.

The only official Harvard comment so far about the changes Princeton, Yale and Stanford have made was President Rudenstine's remark to the Harvard Alumni Association that Harvard will keep its aid offers "within shouting distance" of its competitors. If Harvard does not act soon to extend its financial aid plan--within this admissions cycle--Harvard risks losing an edge to Princeton, Stanford and Yale in attracting top candidates from all economic backgrounds.

We call on Harvard to follow Princeton, Yale and Stanford and make a first class education more affordable.