Princeton Shows Us the Money

Our Ivy friends in Princeton, N.J., have once again led the way in student aid, ensuring that no student has to fret about dragging a family into financial hardship by attending a costly undergraduate institution. As Harvard makes the news for amassing a mammoth endowment, Princeton makes the news for putting its endowment to good use. Harvard should be ashamed for its lackluster record on financial aid and should take steps to ease the burden of undergraduate tuition, room and board.

The Board of Trustees at Princeton have voted to replace all loan offerings to undergraduates with grants. Apart from the service academies, Princeton is possibly the first American university to guarantee that undergraduate financial aid recipients will not be required to borrow to help pay for college. Princeton took a proactive step against a national trend in which loans make up an increasing proportion of financial aid packages. Loans account for 60 percent of all student aid, and those forced to take out loans throughout their four years of college will graduate this year with average debt between $15,000 and $20,000, according to Don Betterton, Princeton's director of undergraduate financial aid.

In addition to allowing students to graduate with little if any debt, the new system at Princeton will decrease the mandatory annual contribution from student savings from 35 to 5 percent. By offering to make up the gap with grants, Princeton's new plan specifically targets the penalty many families face when they conscientiously save for college. The Board of Trustees further decided to reduce the amount that students are asked to contribute from summer savings.

This is the second time in three years that Princeton has taken significant action to reform its financial aid program. In 1998, Princeton eliminated all loans for students from families earning less than $46,000, replacing them with grants. Perhaps motivated by a slightly guilty conscience or by a desire to remain competitive, Harvard followed Princeton's example with a similar program for low-income families. We hoped that Harvard would have learned from Princeton's example and taken steps to alleviate the burden of undergraduate borrowing.

Princeton, however, has once again taken the initiative. Recognizing that middle-class students could only afford to attend a selective private university by taking out prodigious loans, Princeton put its burgeoning endowment of $8 billion to laudable use. Even though it does not currently plan to take any action, Harvard will have to respond if it intends to compete seriously for the best students from middle-income families.

President Neil L. Rudenstine has been Harvard's greatest fundraiser, propelling our endowment to approximately $19 billion. We encourage President Rudenstine and his successor to follow Princeton's lead and to institute a similar financial aid system for Harvard College. In its quest to assemble the most stimulating intellectual and social undergraduate community, Harvard must do its best to ensure that no one rejects an offer of admission because of limited finances.