A Record Turnout

While a certain lesser New Haven school recently attracted a diminished pool of applicants, Harvard received 22,717 applications for entrance next fall—the largest number of applications in the school’s history and a 15 percent increase in the number of applicants compared to last year. This rise in applications seems to indicate that the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI), introduced last year by President Lawrence H. Summers and Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67, is substantially increasing the number of low-income applicants, thus improving socioeconomic diversity in the College.

This is welcome news as recent classes at Harvard have suffered from severe socioeconomic imbalance. According to Fitzsimmons, currently less than 15 percent of Harvard students have come from the poorest 60 percent of households. This means that a Harvard education has remained the privilege of the upper-middle class and rich.

But with the introduction of the HFAI, that imbalance has begun to change. The HFAI significantly reduces the amount lower-income students must pay in tuition. Families earning $40,000 a year or less do not have to contribute any money, and those earning between $40,000 and $60,000 have to pay substantially less as compared to previous years. The result of this new program appears to be fairly clear, as the number of students asking for an application fee waiver rose 45 percent. While this percentage does not show exactly how many applicants will qualify under the HFAI, those requesting the waiver are very likely to be eligible for the HFAI. The increase in students seeking an application fee waiver is also a strong indication that the initiative has been well publicized, and that those who are eligible are taking advantage of it and applying.

The growth in the number of requests for application fee waivers was also accompanied by a 16.7 percent rise in the number of students seeking financial aid in general, another positive sign that Harvard is attempting to further diversify its student body. But while these increases in the applicant pool are important, they will be meaningless if the accepted class does not reflect this greater diversity. It is not enough to have more low-income students applying; Harvard must enroll talented, high-achieving low-income students so that the new class of first-years will reflect the diversity of the applications.

Summers and Fitzsimmons should be congratulated for the apparent success of the HFAI so far, but they and the rest of the administration must continue to promote this progressive initiative, making as many high school students aware of it as possible. Furthermore, Harvard, because of its prestige, should serve as a leader to other colleges and universities—perhaps the New Haven school whose admission numbers dropped would benefit from pursuing a similar program—encouraging them to expand the aid and support they give low-income students. The status of Harvard as an institution gives it the unique ability to help promote change throughout the academic community, and it should do so.