Harvard easing tuition for poor students

Harvard University, one of the most elite and wealthy universities in the world, has adopted a… Harvard University, one of the most elite and wealthy universities in the world, has adopted a policy that will help low-income students attend.

Harvard figures student aid packages – disbursed out of their staggering $19.3 billion endowment – based on what the student and the parent can contribute, which is calculated using their incomes. Parents earning less than $40,000 will no longer be asked to contribute to a student’s $44,000 yearly bill, and parents earning between $40,000 and $60,000 will have their share of the tuition reduced as well.

As it stands now, parents in the under-$40,000 group are expected to contribute an average of $2,300. In the fall, they won’t be asked to contribute at all. Students will still be expected to contribute by working during summers and school years.

Currently, only 10 percent of the students in elite colleges are from the lower half of the economic spectrum, according to Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers.

Diversity is a hot-button issue in universities today, and while racial and ethnic diversity are important, they are not the only sort of diversity worth striving for. Students from different socioeconomic backgrounds have a lot to teach one another. It’s entirely possible to knock on three different stately doors of mansions in a wealthy subdivision and have three different-colored faces answer, but those three ethnically diverse families have very similar lifestyles and experiences.

If rich kids are the only ones who can afford to go to Harvard, it’s likely they’ll choose to associate with wealthy people their entire lives; after all, that’s who they spent their formative years with. Harvard has a reputation for being an enclave of wealth and privilege, a place that reinforces the stereotype of the rich getting richer and the poor staying poor. Attitudes like that tend to be self-perpetuating, so it’s refreshing to see Harvard take proactive steps toward correcting that.

The Harvard name is a huge benefit in life, far past the collegiate years. An underwater basket weaving major from Harvard may be just as unemployed as an underwater basket weaving major from East Nowhere Community College, but the Harvard weaver will probably have a better chance of finding work. It’s good to see Harvard loaning its name to the cause of social mobility.

Harvard’s only mistake in this matter was not doing it sooner.