Duke Aid Is Competitive

To the editors:

The article "Stanford Boosts Financial Aid Packages" (Feb. 18) notes that only Harvard and Duke among the nation's top five schools have failed to respond to Princeton's move to increase financial aid. In fact, Duke has long used some of these competitive practices. Students' tuition is frozen at freshman-year levels, even as incoming classes pay more. And students from the Carolinas receive grants in lieu of loans in their financial aid packages. This last factor was important in my own decision to attend Duke, and being debt-free has expanded my later options. JEFFREY W. VANKE, GSAS   Feb. 18, 1998