For first time, half of freshman class receives financial assistance

Half of this year's freshman class is receiving financial aid, a record-high percentage, the University announced this week.

That figure is much higher than figures from the past two years and higher than other Ivy League universities' numbers.

Forty percent of the Class of 2004 received financial aid in its first year, and 46 percent of the Class of 2005 received aid its first year.

The percentage of the Class of 2006 receiving financial aid at Princeton is also significantly higher than at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Yale spokesman Tom Violante said 39.9 percent of Yale's freshman class is receiving aid, and Penn spokeswoman Jessica Reitano said 42.7 percent of Penn's Class of 2006 is receiving aid in the form of both grants and loans.

Those figures have increased from last year, officials from both universities said.

Because the University has awarded financial aid to more students over the past few years, more applicants who are accepted have chosen to enroll.

The University offered admission to 10.9 percent of applicants last year, a record low, and the percentage of accepted applicants who chose to enroll — the yield — was approximately 73.6 percent, a record high, according to a press release.

The yield for applicants who needed financial aid "was as high or higher than we've had over a number of years," said Don Betterton, director of the University's financial aid program.

Both the increase in the percentage of students receiving financial aid and the increased yield were affected by the significant changes made to the financial aid program over the last several years, Betterton said. He noted that 14 changes were made to the program in the past four years.

Fred Hargadon, the University's dean of admissions, agreed with Betterton that the changes in financial aid contributed to the increased yield.

"Certainly, the improvements in Princeton's financial aid program over the past several years are an important factor on both counts: the increase in the number of students on financial aid and the increase in overall yield," he said in an e-mail.

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In February 2001, the board of trustees approved several major changes to the University's financial aid policy.

The most significant of these changes was the replacement of all loans with grants, Betterton said. This "no-loan" policy attracted significant media attention which probably helped increase the University's yield as well, he said.

At the same time, Princeton became only the fourth university in the nation to institute a need-blind admission policy for international students. The new plan took effect with the Class of 2005.

Before these changes, the average financial aid student accumulated between $15,000 and $20,000 in debt in four years at Princeton, and approximately 30 percent of students received loans as part of a financial aid package.