Finally, some good news for middle-class parents staggered by soaring college tuition, said Susan Kinzie in The Washington Post. In a bold move that its peers will likely emulate, Harvard is expanding its financial-aid package so that many of its 6,600 undergraduates will get some relief. Starting in 2008, families earning $60,000 and up will pay only a small percentage of Harvard’s annual $45,600 tuition, under a sliding scale based on income. Even families earning between $120,000 and $180,000 will pay only 10 percent of their annual income in tuition—an amount comparable to that charged at many state universities. This isn’t just “another benefit for the rich,” said the Toledo Blade in an editorial. Harvard’s target audience is white-collar families that are mortgaging their homes and going into debt to give their kids a decent college education, all but a necessity in the 21st-century job market. “The sad truth is that $100,000 just isn’t what it used to be.”
Don’t start “applauding Harvard’s altruism too loudly,” said The Wall Street Journal. With $35 billion in its endowment fund, the school is meting out just $22 million per year for the new tuition assistance—not exactly a huge sacrifice. And Harvard decided to free up that sum only because it “had its back against a wall.” The mammoth size of its endowment is attracting attention, and this fall the Senate Finance Committee held hearings on whether rich universities should spend more of their money to reduce skyrocketing tuition. It’s a fair question.
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