AS NEARLY everyone knows, college costs have soared. One year at Harvard and other private colleges costs about $50,000. Some parents cope by taking out second mortgages. To others, the high price tag looks like a "do not enter" sign, and they steer their children to more affordable public colleges.
Harvard, at least, is in a position to launch a financial aid rescue mission. This week, the school announced that it will give more aid to college students whose families earn up to $180,000 a year. It's the latest in a series of welcome changes that began in 2004, when Harvard announced that families earning less than $40,000 a year would no longer have to pay any of their child's college bills. (Two years later, the threshold rose to $60,000.)
The latest change is a boost for Harvard's students and a small but symbolic stand against national income inequality. If only more colleges could and would do the same.
"The American dream is in such trouble," William Fitzsimmons, Harvard's dean of admissions and financial aid, said in an interview, explaining why Harvard made the change. Fitzsimmons hears stories about families' struggles to pay bills. He is keenly aware that many homes have lost their value and that in some households every family member works.
So Harvard has created an impressive discount. Families that earn between $120,000 and $180,000 a year will typically be asked to pay 10 percent of their income. For them, the savings will generally run from $7,000 to $12,000. Families earning less than $120,000 will generally contribute less than 10 percent based on the size of their incomes.
In addition, students will no longer be required to take out loans. And Harvard will no longer consider home equity when it calculates a family's ability to pay for college, creating an average savings of $4,000.
These changes are helping Harvard admit a more economically diverse group of students - and fight troubling national trends.
As Harvard was ratcheting up its financial aid offerings in 2004, then president Lawrence Summers, an economist, noted that the gap between the children of different economic backgrounds has widened over the last generation.
With its endowment of $35 billion, Harvard has more room to help than any other college. Nonetheless, less wealthy colleges should figure out if there are innovations in financial aid that they can afford. Schools have options in allocating their budgets. Does a college benefit more by investing in new buildings or in promising students of modest means?
Higher education can be a powerful force for equality, but not if colleges impoverish the families of their students. Increasing financial aid helps America remain a land of opportunities.
