Reduction in Self-Help Likely as Financial Aid Reform Approaches

Harvard

Harvard was finally moved, replacing its refusal to change with a pledge to make its offers competitive on a case-by-case basis, upping its offers on an individual basis and giving the class of 2002 just enough to win them over from competitors. Harvard's system still counts all of a family's home equity when calculating need.

MIT

MIT dropped $1,000 from student self-help requirements.

Penn

Penn strengthened a system of merit-based "preferential packages" by eliminating loans for 100 outstanding students.

Princeton

At the end of January, Princeton started a war. It allocated an additional $6 million to unilaterally cut student self-help and expected parental contributions for the class of 2002, replacing these with outright grants.

Stanford

Stanford's program reduced family contributions and self-help, increasing their costs to $3.8 million. Their plan also employed outside scholarships to reduce self-help requirements.

Yale

Yale reduced family contributions and self-help, increasing their costs to $3.5 million. Plans for the future

Harvard

Harvard will announce it's new financial aid policy soon.

MIT

MIT announced it would eliminate $1,000 in loans and work-study requirements for all students on financial aid coupled with a pledge to increase overall scholarships by 14 percent Some needier students' burdens will be relieved by as much as $ 3,500.

Penn

Penn announced it will give 50 of its most prized applicants new "Trustee Scholarships," aid packages that replace all loans with outright grants. This program will cost about $125,000. "Preferential packages" are not formally considered merit scholarships because they still offer aid based on calculations of demonstrated need. The new program completely eliminates self-help for the 50 Trustee Scholars.

Princeton

Princeton's new policy will eliminate all loans when a student's family makes less than $40,000 a year, absorbing what had been $4,080 in debt into an increased grant package in some cases. It will benefit middle-class students by eliminating home equity in calculating expected contributions from families making $90,000 or less. Princeton also replaces needier students' loans with outright grants.

Stanford

Stanford announced sweeping changes to its policies last week, including a pledge not to reduce grants when students find outside scholarships. The plan will allow students to eliminate the work-study and loan provisions of their aid package with scholarship funds. Stanford will also limit the amount of family assets used in calculating need.

Yale

Yale's new system is expected to bring the students between $1,400 and $6000 more per year. The plan will ignore the first $150,000 of a family's assets in calculating that family's expected contribution. The amount students must contribute from summer job incomes will also decrease, allowing for lower-paying internships or a summer abroad.