A Dream That Can Be Achieved

Yale University Increases Financial Aid
Thu Mar 3, 5:21 PM ET

U.S. National - AP
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Yale University increased its financial aid for lower-income families Thursday, the latest move by the Ivy League to attract students who had seen the schools as out of their price range.

Beginning next year, families making less than $45,000 will no longer have to pay tuition for their children, and those earning between $45,000 and $60,000 will see their required contributions drop an average of 50 percent, Yale said.
"The general message is that Ivy League schools are affordable," Yale President Richard Levin said. "This is a dream that can be achieved."
Levin said many qualified students don't bother applying to Yale because they figure their parents can't foot the tuition of about $41,000 a year, including room, board and other fees. But about 40 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid, with an average award this year of $22,000.
The average family earning less than $60,000 will save about $2,700 under the new plan, the university said. It estimated the changes will cost about $3 million, and will be paid for by using interest from the school's $12.7 billion endowment and with money saved on operating expenses.
Yale's announcement follows similar moves at other Ivy League schools, which have pushed in recent years not just to make tuition affordable to more students, but also to remake their images. Last year Harvard said families making less than $40,000 do not have to pay tuition.
"Top-flight schools are all looking at what kind of barriers there are to low-income students," said Robin Moscato, senior assistant admissions director at Princeton, which replaced student loans with grants and made other financial aid changes in recent years.
Levin said the college plans to promote its new financial aid plan at high schools around the country.
Last year more than 550 families of Yale students earned less than $60,000 a year, and more than 300 of those families earned less than $40,000, the university said. About 5,200 students were enrolled at Yale this fall.
Although Yale is freeing lower-income parents from paying their children's tuition, the university requires the students themselves to pay at least $4,200 a year. They can earn the money by working $10-an-hour campus jobs or by taking loans.
On Yale's campus, where some students staged a sit-in at the admissions office last week in a call for more financial aid, Thursday's announcement was well received.
"I think it's an issue that all students follow," said senior Chance Carlisle, vice president of the College Council. "No one likes the perception that because you go to an Ivy League institution, you have to be from a financially well-off family."