Student Aid Stays In Wake of Crisis

One year could have made all the difference.

If the launch date had been set for this year, Harvard’s year-old upper middle income financial aid program might not have been implemented due to the worldwide economic crisis, which has taken an $8 billion bite out of the University’s endowment.

“Would we be launching that program right now in the current economic environment? I highly doubt it,” said Sally C. Donahue, director of financial aid.

The program significantly reduces costs for families making between $60,000 and $180,000 per year. Those making between $120,000 and $180,000 pay only 10 percent of their income, while those making under $120,000 pay even less.

“I think we were very fortunate to be able to expand our financial aid program last year,” Donahue said. “When we launched the initiative last year, it was because we knew that families were feeling very stretched.”

If the initiative had been set to launch this year, she said that the circumstances would have been less than ideal.

“It wouldn’t have been appropriate in some ways, because it certainly has required enormous investment of support from the University and Faculty,” she said.

University President Drew G. Faust affirmed the University’s commitment to financial aid in November just before she announced the Harvard’s endowment had seen the largest decline in its history.

The middle-income initiative was felt across higher education, with Yale quickly following suit with a similar financial program. Stanford also expanded its aid program to make tuition free for families making less than $100,000 and other elite universities—including those in the Ivy League, MIT, Duke, and the University of Chicago—quickly followed suit.

But despite the deterioration in Harvard’s current financial position and the losses to its endowment, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said that the University is “well-positioned to help students and families.”

“We felt like signalling to the world that Harvard education was affordable,” Donahue said.

—Staff writer Lingbo Li can be reached at lingboli@fas.harvard.edu