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March 30, 2007

Harvard Spends some endowment on financial aid and gets applications

Harvard's shift in aid policy seems to be paying off - though I'd really like to see a breakdown on that 26% -- how many are eligible to attend free of charge? Recruiting a really sizable percentage of your class from families that make less than $60,000 per year would be a more radical move at Harvard than race-based affirmative action. Clearly the percentage is less than 26% - some percentage of families make between 60-80K. Another interesting thing to see will be the yield - the percentage of students who decide to show up in the fall. Will that shift?

March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Harvard College rejected 91 percent of applicants for the coming academic year, the highest rate in the school's history, after an expansion of financial aid encouraged more students to seek admission.

A record 22,955 students applied to be part of the incoming freshman class at the college, the part of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, university focusing on undergraduate education. The school sent out 2,058 acceptance notices in December and today, according to a statement posted on its Web site.

Harvard, which has the largest endowment in the U.S. at $29.2 billion, increased financial aid for the school year starting in September to allow students from families earning less than $60,000 to attend free of charge. Undergraduate tuition, room and board and other mandatory fees will rise to $45,620 for the year.

"The new Harvard financial aid initiative continues to send a clear and unambiguous message that Harvard welcomes students of excellence regardless of their financial need,'' said William Fitzsimmons, dean of admission and financial aid.

About 26 percent of the incoming class is eligible to attend free of charge or at a reduced cost offered to students whose families earn $60,000 to $80,000 annually. Harvard increased its financial aid pool to $103 million for the year, the most in the school's history.

See my posts on Hamilton (no merit awards) and Davidson (no loans in aid packages).

Posted by CrankyProfessor at March 30, 2007 6:51 AM