Harvard increases financial aid in wake of Princeton's new plan

Answering Princeton's new financial aid plan unveiled by President Shapiro last month, Harvard University announced additional funding for student aid programs last week.

The plan calls for an increase of $8.3 million in funding for the undergraduate scholarship program. Financial aid students will receive an additional $2,000 in need-based assistance from Harvard — reducing the expected student contribution of $5,150 by 40 percent to $3,150.

"While we believe that our undergraduates should share in the investment of their education, including the use of low-interest loans, the new financial aid program ensures that — no matter what their resources — all our students can embrace and enjoy the possibilities here, without carrying a significant burden of term-time work, or of debt after graduation," Harvard University Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy Knowles said in a press release.

The new measures will take effect in September and will include all students receiving aid from Harvard.

Harvard officials' reasons for the new plan — alleviation of student debt and reduction of student contributions — closely match those outlined by Shapiro and Princeton's trustees during the announcement of the University's plan last month.

Though the timing of the initiative follows Princeton's efforts, the scope and focus of Harvard's plan is different. While Princeton's plan called for the elimination of required loans, Harvard's initiative will only reduce the required student contribution — which may be funded by a combination of loans and student job revenue — and will not change the parents' costs.

"It's really a question of priorities," Provost Jeremiah Ostriker said last week. "This is our highest priority. For our peer universities, they may feel that this is not the best use of their money."

"If they wanted to [match Princeton's plan exactly], I think — as someone looking at the numbers from a far — they could do this," he added.

University officials say they are glad other schools will also be increasing financial aid. Even after the approval of the University's plan, officials emphasized they were not looking for an advantage in attracting students.

"We had not hoped for a competitive advantage here," Shapiro said during a press conference last month. "What we hoped for is what we did would be followed by our competitors so that education as a whole would be open."