Will Harvard’s and Yale’s Well-intentioned Move Hurt College Prospects for the Poor?

In the January 22, 2008, New York Times, Roger Lehecka and Andrew Delbanco published an op-ed about Harvard’s and Yale’s recent decision to increase financial aid for students from middle income families. (Blogged here, here and here).  The article suggests that Harvard’s and Yale’s move might actually hurt poor students who dream of going to college because money that could ordinarily be given to these poorer students will now likely be re-directed to others.  Here is an excerpt:

The problem is that most colleges will feel compelled to follow Harvard and Yale’s lead in price-discounting. Yet few have enough money to give more aid to relatively wealthy students without taking it away from relatively poor ones.

Most colleges already tend to favor the affluent because their budgets require it. More than 90 percent of America’s private colleges have endowments less than 1 percent the size of Harvard’s. Giving an upper-middle-class applicant even a generous partial scholarship puts less strain on their budgets than giving a full scholarship to a student whose family can afford to pay nothing.

For the entire story, go to “Ivy-League Letdown” in the January 22, 2008, New York Times.

DAB