<p>Last year, after Harvard launched its “Financial Aid Initiative”, I speculated - not entirely in jest - that the impetus had come primarily from the coaches.</p>
<p>As I have previously noted, the Ivies lose more recruits than they would like to to the “athletic scholarship schools” like Stanford, Duke and the state flagships.</p>
<p>Since they are barred (by Ivy religious principles) from offering either athletic scholarships or “merit aid” of any kind, the only way they can go mano-a-mano for top jocks is by scouring the nation for poor, but athletically gifted (and at least somewhat qualified academically!) “student athletes.”</p>
<p>As long as that QB or shooting guard etc. is poverty-stricken, we can go dollar-for-dollar with Notre Dame, Stanford, Michigan or Duke for his “services.”</p>
<p>The same principle, of course, applies indirectly when recruiting top URMs or those with top grades or other “attributes.”</p>
<p>The ability to pay top dollar for poor-but-desirable recruits enables the Ivies (and HYP in particular) to fight back, indirectly, against poaching by other schools offering not only athletic scholarships but “merit aid” of any kind.</p>