Raising the Stakes

The tremors that began in 1998 culminated in a financial aid revolution this year after highly selective colleges signaled their commitment to attracting diversity by boosting financial aid packages for the second time in three years.

As it did in the last round of debt reduction, Princeton University set the benchmark by replacing all student loans with grants in January. This move was soon followed by Harvard's February announcement that it would grant financial aid recipients an additional $2,000 to apply towards the self-help requirement, or the portion that students are expected to contribute to their aid package.

Harvard's move was part of a larger trend that shows colleges are increasingly using aid to attract high-caliber applicants. With these changes, talented applicants can now forget about the life-long debt load often seen as an inevitable and unwelcome accompaniment to a college education.

Over the course of this year, Harvard, MIT and Dartmouth College have all announced major changes to the way they distribute aid. In the space of three and a half years, Harvard has increased financial aid packages by $4,000. Smaller colleges have made changes as well. Williams College, for example, capped tuition and significantly reduced the maximum loan over the past four years.

Harvard financial aid officers insist the College did not make the changes as a response to Princeton's move, instead crediting a healthy economy and alumni support for financing the changes to the program. Harvard's endowment last year grew from $14 billion to $19.2 billion, and the recently concluded University Capital Campaign allowed Harvard to increase its financial aid budget by $8.3 million.

"Our efforts were very independent," says Sally C. Donahue, Harvard's director of financial. "There are a number of schools relative to the rest of the country blessed with strong endowments. It was the time to focus on our financial aid."

Harvard's changes to its financial aid program also come out of a concern for maintaining diversity in its student body. The College has also focused on a minority recruitment drive over the past three years.

"We changed the financial aid program again because we wanted to be sure financial considerations don't stand in the way of a student thinking he should come here," says Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath-Lewis '70-'73. "We are reaching out to students who would not think about us."

"Our main task is to make sure we seem accessible so talented students with good records seem like they have a shot for admission," McGrath-Lewis says. "Talent and promise are the only tickets for admission. We want to be sure financial considerations don't keep out talented students."

Universities are in competition with each other for the most talented applicants and often use financial incentives to draw promising students. Harvard does not offer need-blind aid. However, outside the Ivy League, universities have added assets to offer applicants, including trips abroad and spending money.

At Emory University, scholarship winners receive room and board, reimbursements for money spent on cultural events in Atlanta and $1,000 to spend on a summer in Europe for "personal enhancement."

"We don't buy students," McGrath-Lewis says. "It must feel like a bidding war for students who are in the lucky position of having a number of opportunities."

McGrath-Lewis says Harvard admissions officers look closely at the decisions students make between Harvard and schools that offer merit-based aid.

"We are always aware of changes taking place at other institutions," Donahue says. "We feel strongly about remaining competitive."

Harvard financial aid officials were not alone in noticing that large self-help requirements could hinder students' experience at college.

MIT also reduced its self-help by $2,000. Dartmouth moved to replace some loans with grants, boosting aid packages by at least $1,225. Stanford University also gave a incremental boost to financial aid this year, decreasing the self-help portion of the package by $250.

Harvard Admits

Acceptance letters from Harvard University are increasingly rare. This year, barely 10.7 percent of Harvard's record number 19,009 applicants were accepted to the College.

The competitive atmosphere surrounding college admissions process continues to worry high school guidance counselors, as students are increasingly focused on achieving the credentials necessary to insure admission--even paying for application advice.

To respond to the pressure created by college admissions, Harvard's Office of Admissions released a statement this fall, entitled "Time Out or Burn Out." The statement addressed the race toward success that results in over-programmed and unhappy applicants.

"The pressure of gaining entrance to the most selective colleges is commonly blamed for much of the stress we observe," reads the statement.

The Office of Admissions suggested that students focus more on personal growth instead of becoming ideal applicants for college acceptance.

"Those of us who work in college admissions recognize that college is only one of many destinations in the fast lane," the statement continues. "The accumulation of 'credentials' simply continues to intensify as the stakes increase."

Some of the solutions for these "dazed survivors of some lifelong boot camp," sound inconsistent with the Office of Admissions' purpose, considering the office's role is to promote Harvard to talented students.

The office suggests families encourage down-time, summers without internships but "old-fashioned" jobs, and most surprising, the selection of a college based not only on "brand name" or "reputation" but because the school is the "best fit" for students.

The admissions office also suggested students take time off before college. For those who waited a year before entering college, admissions officers found that these students entered the College with a clearer idea of academic plans, extracurricular pursuits and "the intangibles they hoped to gain in college."

As of now, a record 43 students have decided to postpone entering the College until the fall of 2006. This number usually hovers in the low 20s.

In a May interview, McGrath-Lewis said, "The letter legitimizes a student's decision to take time off... I think people are listening to what the admissions office has to say."

The deferrals are expected to cut into Harvard's yield, or the percentage of admitted students who decide to matriculate, for deferred students count as "no-shows." This number is the highest among selective colleges and is often used as a measure of a college's competitiveness.

Admissions officers are not concerned with drops in the yield. Instead, officers said students that are eager and excited for college will be more likely to get the most out of the college experience.

The Numbers Game

Some of the pressure related to College acceptance rests on a student's performance on the SAT I exam. But the future of the SAT's role in the college admissions process is far from predictable, especially after a court decision this March.

A disabled man sued the Educational Testing Service (ETS) for their policy of flagging the results of untimed tests, blaming what he saw as discrimination for his rejection from graduate school. The suit was settled on the condition that ETS remove all flags from its graduate school score reports.

Since the SAT I is owned by the College Board and administered by ETS, the exam's score reports were not immediately affected by the settlement. Instead, the College Board was asked to form a panel to study the issue of flagged scores and untimed testing for the SAT.

Without the flags, admissions officers will have no way to determine the conditions under which exams were administered. Harvard admissions officials say the court decision threatens to undermine the validity of standardized testing.

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitszimmons says he is concerned that students without disabilities would manipulate the unflagged score reports to better their performance on the exams.

"There are rumors of a cottage industry where students who do not have disabilities and have never received assistance before can receive extended time [after being classified as disabled]," Fitzsimmons says.

The panel has until next March to issue a recommendation. But everything from the panel's composition to its ultimate recommendation remains controversial.

The College Board is concerned that a decision will be made without adequate study. The panel's membership still has not been determined.

"The fact that a panel is not established is of some concern to me," says Wayne Camara, director research and development at the College Board. "We need to make an informed decision and it shouldn't have to happen in a short period."