University will not join Yellow Ribbon Program

Under the new program, which is tied to the GI Bill, colleges across the country are given the opportunity to “voluntarily enter into an agreement with VA to fund tuition expenses that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition rate” for veterans, according to the Department’s website. The VA and the college would split the costs equally.

The University has decided not to participate because it already provides substantial need-based financial aid to all undergraduate students, Cliatt said in an e-mail.

“The key point in our consideration was that we have a financial aid program that admits students on a need-blind basis,” she explained. “We meet the full assessed need of all qualifying students through a generous no-loan program in which grants don’t have to be repaid.”

Cliatt added that the average student aid grant for next year is expected to reach $36,000, and, she said, “Any veteran who applies to Princeton and is admitted would be very generously supported.”

The decision about whether to take part in the Yellow Ribbon Program has not been unanimous among Princeton’s peer Ivy League institutions.

Dartmouth and Columbia are the only two of Princeton’s Ivy League peers who have announced definite plans to participate in the program, according to an Inside Higher Ed article.

Of the 17 schools at Columbia, the only two schools not taking part are undergraduate programs for which financial aid is need-based, the article stated.

According to Inside Higher Ed, both Brown and Harvard have expressed interest, but both have yet to sign up.