<p>Princeton and Yale have similar endowments per student. Harvard’s is much lower than either of the two. Also, endowment per student is not directly comparable when the differences are so small (e.g., $1.9M versus $1.8M). The only point here is that Yale is getting a cash influx of $300+M per year. No university will be able to even come close to matching that, not because they don’t have money, but because they were already spending at a higher rate.</p>
<p>That said, yes, Princeton will probably be able to match Harvard and Yale’s new initiative in terms of financial aid, but not necessarily in terms of other initiatives. I doubt anyone else will be able to match HYP. For example, Penn just announced new financial aid a couple weeks ago, but in terms of aid per student, it was still only about 50% as generous as Harvard’s initiative. Beyond HYP, other universities just don’t have the necessary funds.</p>