Applicants criticize aid policy

After several elite universities bolstered their financial aid packages during the past year, some Class of 2012 applicants and their families are expressing doubts about whether the University’s financial aid program can best the competition.

In the past, the University has stood on the strength of its pioneering efforts to eliminate loans, but some applicants are now skeptical that the funding for middle-class families will not be sufficient, despite repeated attempts by Director of Undergraduate Financial Aid Robin Moscato to explain that Princeton provides enough aid to meet the demonstrated need of all students.

Applicants lauded the University’s no-loan policy, but some expressed the desire for the University to take further steps as other schools are actively bolstering their aid programs.

One applicant praised the University’s grant system, but said the overall program “only appears to be average because many other colleges and universities are adopting similar financial aid methods.” All applicants interviewed for the article were granted anonymity because their applications to the University are still pending.

“While Princeton had the grant policies before, I think that they should respond to the other colleges’ boosts in financial aid so that they can be even more appealing to students,” another applicant agreed.

In light of Stanford’s financial aid reform that eliminated tuition for families with annual incomes below $100,000, Moscato maintained that Princeton’s financial aid packages are still competitive.

Though the University does not set fixed income brackets for aid packages, the administration’s letter to the Senate Finance Committee last week reported that members of the Class of 2011 with annual family incomes below $75,000 received grants that on average covered nearly all tuition and room and board costs.

Those with family incomes between $75,000 and $100,000 paid an average of $10,180, or $800 short of the full cost of room and board. Families with incomes from $100,000 to $125,000 paid an average of $16,280.

Moscato admitted, however, that the University may no longer have the single “strongest need-based financial aid program in the country.”

Applicants specifically faulted the University for not allocating sufficient aid to middle-income families.

“I think that maybe schools like Princeton don’t appreciate how hard it can be even for middle-class people to pay for college,” one applicant said. “When I visited, I remember that Princeton made a big deal about meeting everyone’s financial needs. It seems like [the University’s] idea of what you need is not always as much as you actually need, so then you have to pay or take out loans for the rest,” he explained.

Moscato, however, defended the University’s allocation of aid. “We have a financial aid program that serves all families from all backgrounds,” she said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Another applicant, who agreed that more aid should be given to middle-income families, added that the University should hold tuition constant instead of continually increasing it.

“Princeton should definitely consider raising the bar for who qualifies for need-based financial aid,” the applicant said. “In a lot of situations ... the middle class is stuck struggling because they don’t qualify for aid but still need some assistance.”

The applicant’s mother echoed her daughter’s concerns that the University’s bar for financial need is set too low, but said she thought it was no less generous than other schools’.

“There are certainly many families who do not consider private universities a real possibility for their child because the financial strain would be too great even though they are not considered to be ‘in need,’ ” the mother said in an e-mail. “It has been in the news that more universities are increasing their financial aid funding, hopefully because they realize that it is the middle class that is suffering the hardship,” she said.

“I don’t think Princeton is doing less than others. It would be nice if every university did more,” she said.

Other applicants also noted that they thought the University should do more to improve its aid after the changes made at other colleges.

“It seems like a lot of other schools have been making more changes recently to improve aid,” an applicant said. “Definitely [financial aid] will be a huge factor for when I decide where to go to school. It seems like Harvard would probably offer my family the best aid, but of course, I haven’t heard from anyone yet.”

The applicant, whose family’s income falls in the $100,000 to $125,000 range, said financial aid would play a “huge role” in her ultimate decision about where to go to school. She added that she’d had trouble estimating how much aid she would qualify for at Princeton and therefore could not compare it to what she thought Harvard or other schools would offer her.

Princeton introduced an online financial aid calculator in 1998, which gives applicants the ability to estimate the type of aid package that they would receive if accepted to the University.

As part of the University’s recent efforts to highlight its leadership in financial aid innovation, “we’ve increased the prominence and visibility of the estimator,” Moscato said.

Not all students, however, were pleased with the online tool.

“The online estimator tool required a lot of complicated information I didn’t really know about my family’s taxes and stuff,” one applicant said. “If [Princeton] set specific amounts for different income brackets like other schools have done, that would make it easier to understand.”

Tamar Adegbile, upper school dean and a college adviser at the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, said she thought Princeton’s financial aid was still “competitive” with many of the reformed programs at other schools.

“I can’t say I’ve done enough research to say which schools offer the most generous financial aid packages but I know that several schools in the Ivy League as well as Stanford and Duke have eliminated a parent contribution for families within a certain income bracket,” Adegbile said in an e-mail. “I am happy to see that many institutions are beginning to recognize the ‘squeeze’ on those families in the middle class and have changed their policies in order to help make their schools a reality for more students.”

Christine Brozynski ’10, however, questioned whether the University’s financial aid has been sufficiently publicized to applicants and outsiders.

“People might not be aware of Princeton’s great financial aid because a lot of media attention is on the other Ivy League schools right now for their changes to financial aid policies,” Brozynski said. “Princeton can definitely afford to increase its financial aid, and we might as well do it now so that we aren’t excluded from the media spotlight ... I think that Princeton could be doing more to help middle-class and upper-middle-class students.”