Trading Merit for Money

The economic downturn may have taken its toll on Harvard’s endowment, faculty, and janitorial staff, but it certainly hasn’t hurt admissions. This year the College accepted a record-low seven percent of applicants out of from 29,112 aspiring candidates. We congratulate the Class of 2013. Praise is also due to the admissions office for choosing such an extremely diverse group. The accepted class includes a record 10.9 percent Latinos, 10.8 percent African Americans, and 17.6 percent Asian Americans and comes from a record 82 different countries. Almost a quarter of the class is eligible for free or reduced tuition under Harvard’s scholarship program for families making less than $180,000 a year. We have high expectations for next year’s freshmen and are looking forward to seeing many excited new faces on campus.

At a time when greater numbers of students in the incoming class and throughout the school need financial aid, we are encouraged that, despite budget shortfalls and the difficult economy, the College will be growing its financial-aid program. The admissions office recently reported that the Class of 2013 will receive an unprecedented $147 million in financial aid next year. Financial aid needs to continue to be a priority. The caliber and integrity of our educational experience depends on keeping Harvard a financial possibility for all qualified students, regardless of their background.

We hope that, across the board, colleges that are strapped for cash think before reducing financial-aid programs and that schools with need-blind admissions policies remain that way. Universities lose more than just individual students when they admit wealthy applicants above equally or more qualified, but less affluent, students. Higher education should not be a business—when schools start evaluating their core priorities in this regard, their intellectual integrity suffers. There is a fine line between keeping a school alive to educate another day and doing long-term damage to its commitment to meritocracy.

If they must reduce their financial-aid programs, universities should be proactive in guiding students toward alternative funding sources, such as private scholarships or government aid. Under the new administration’s budget, students will also be able to take out bigger federally sponsored Perkins loans. The number of colleges whose students are eligible for this loan will increase from 1,800 to 4,000. Admittedly, these proposed benefits will not be available until July 2010, but they will still help.

Lastly, we hope that colleges remain transparent with their admissions process. If they must make financial status a bigger factor in their admissions decisions, then they should be clear about this with students. If they need more information about applicants, they should request it instead of trying to ascertain financial need using deceptive tactics such as evaluating zip codes or parent’s background. These methods are underhanded and do not provide an accurate picture of a family’s financial situation or a student’s ability to afford school. As hard as it is to tell students that their backgrounds might hurt their applications, it is worse to let them think that their shortcomings are academic alone.