Editorial | Increasing access

For many students, Christmas came early last month.

In response to Harvard's sweeping financial aid initiative, which extends coverage to middle and upper-class families, Penn announced last month that it would work toward loan-free aid for all eligible students by Fall 2009.

We applaud the University's efforts to increase Penn's affordability to students of all economic backgrounds. Removing loans from financial aid packages, in particular, will go a long way to reducing student debt after graduation.

But while the loan-free initiative certainly helps those 4,000 undergraduates who are already on financial aid, it doesn't change Penn's underlying formula for calculating student aid eligibility. That means the policy won't do much to widen the pool of those eligible for aid. And in that area, Penn is falling behind its peer institutions.

Yale's new aid program, for example, which was released two days ago, reduces the cost of education for all families making under $200,000. According to the Yale Daily News, the new initiative will also increase the number of students eligible for financial aid by nearly 300.

Of course, Penn's relatively low endowment-per-student ratio means that it won't always be able to compete with Harvard and Yale's generous financial aid packages. In light of these limitations, the University's loan-free initiative is a good first step.

But it's only a first step. If University administrators want to continue Penn's journey on the path to "eminence," they'll need to follow up with more initiatives to expand financial aid availability to as many students as possible.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.