Princeton Financial Assistance Change?

posterX
Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:48:40 +0000

To an extent, more important than policy is the actual amount of aid given. Even if two colleges have the same “policy”, it doesn’t mean that any particular prospective student would be paying the same amount. A better measure than policy might be a figure on gross aid spending per student (not “average” grant, because that can easily be manipulated). Princeton can probably up its amount of aid per student without necessarily changing any policy items.

Harvard announced it would spend an extra $22 million on financial aid next year for 6,500 students, covering families with incomes of up to $180K, while Yale has announced (on Bloomberg TV today) that it would spend an extra $22 million next year for 5,300 students, covering families with incomes of up to $200K. To match Harvard and Yale, Princeton will also need to significantly increase its aid budget. Besides HY, Princeton is pretty much the only college out there that will be able to match this increase, and I’m sure it will.