Aid That Isn’t Middling

When the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid decided in 2006 to expand the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI), we were optimistic. By eliminating the family contribution for any student whose family earned under $60,000 per year, the College was taking a major step towards making a Harvard education affordable for anyone, no matter their means.

But though we suspected that the program would become enormously successful, we were concerned about the plight of students from middle-income families who did not qualify for HFAI would be overlooked. At that time, the College had stopped short of setting concrete goals for improving aid to all families earning between $100,000 and $200,000. These families, especially those with multiple children in college, can often be just as hard-pressed to come up with tuition dollars as low income families.

So we were heartened to read of an apparent commitment to supporting such families. Recently released figures reported in The Crimson show that out of the 3,357 Harvard undergraduates who received aid grants last year from the College, 1,362, or over 40 percent, came from families who made over $100,000. Additionally, the average grant package to families earning between $100,000 and $140,000 rose to $21,692 last year—a $4,000 increase from 2004-2005.

We hope that these statistics are not an anomaly, and that Harvard continues to strive to improve the financial aid given to worthy students. We look forward to a day when no student has to turn down a Harvard offer because of concerns about their ability to pay.