Funny stuff

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My beautiful wife. 

The adorbable Monster. 

A battle won

For those that know me they know I was very active in the financial aid reform department. now after some intresting developments which you can read about here (at Julieah's Blog). It seems Yale has bowed a bit.. its a small victory in the war towards affordable education but a victory nonetheless.

Yale University Follows Harvard's Lead to Lure Poorer Students

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Yale University President Richard Levin said he will follow Harvard's lead and reduce costs for lower-income students, a week after Yale students closed the admissions office to protest financial-aid policies.

``Sometimes we innovate, and sometimes we bow to best practices,'' Levin, 57, said in an interview from the New Haven, Connecticut school. ``We have seen Harvard being pretty successful with their attempt to reach out and become more accessible.''

Levin said Yale was influenced by Harvard University's program of recruiting and easing costs for students whose families earn between $40,000 and $60,000 a year. The move comes as other schools, including the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provide more financial aid to low-income students.

Yale will spend about $3 million a year to help poorer students, saving their families an average of $2,500 annually, Levin said. As it recruits lower-income students, Yale will eliminate parental contributions for families earning under $45,000 a year, and reduce payments from those making less than $60,000.

Harvard

Harvard, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, changed its aid policies last year and next month will decide who qualifies for the program. Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons said that applications for the class of 2009 rose 15 percent in part because of the new efforts.

``We are really pleased to learn about the changes Yale made,'' Fitzsimmons said in a phone interview yesterday. ``Any time this kind of a message comes out from the most competitive institutions, it helps all of the colleges and sends a wonderful message of hope.''

Fifteen students held a sit-in at Yale's admissions office on Feb. 24, while 150 others outside called on Levin to ease costs for students on financial aid. The annual cost of attending Yale is about $41,470.

Levin said the sit-in came after he addressed students at a forum on financial aid and listened to their concerns.

``This is a strong signal, an advertising message, that Yale is affordable,'' Levin said of the new financial-aid program.

Endowments

Douglas Bennett, president of Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, said Yale's move does little to help make higher education accessible and affordable to all students.

``Only a small handful of colleges and universities have endowments that allow them to do what Yale is doing,'' said Bennett, chairman of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C.

``The real battle over access to higher education for students from low-income families is being waged in Washington D.C., where the Congress is considering whether to increase Pell Grants and whether to fully fund all the federal financial aid programs for low-income students,'' Bennett said.

Yale has a $12.8 billion endowment. Levin said the university will pay for the initiative using savings achieved in the last year through administrative reductions. About 42 percent of Yale students qualify for financial aid.

Some students had complained to Levin that they must take out large loans to pay for the costs not covered by aid. Princeton University in New Jersey and Amherst College in Massachusetts already have programs to protect students from debt, said Amherst President Anthony Marx.

Ensuring Access

``Amherst, Harvard and Yale and schools like them recognize that we are not and have not been doing enough to ensure access to the best universities and colleges in the land regardless of ability to pay,'' Marx said. ``There are still lots of really smart kids from poor backgrounds not applying to these schools because they think they can't afford it.''

At the nation's most selective colleges and universities, only 3 percent of students come from families in the lowest 25 percent of income. About 75 are from families in the top 25 percent, Harvard President Lawrence Summers said last year.

Levin said 15 to 17 percent of Yale's 5,240 undergraduates come from low-income families. Like Harvard, Yale will recruit students from rural areas of the U.S., and it will pay for one trip home each year for international students who are on financial aid. Yale expects its financial aid budget to grow to more than $52 million for 2005-06, Levin said.

``Yale is making a serious commitment to remaining competitive on low-income financial aid,'' said Andrew Cedar, 20, president of Yale College Council, the student government.

Tom Mortenson, an education consultant, said the initiative may not benefit enough students.

``Yale has a very long way to go to enroll an average share of already underrepresented population in higher education,'' he said.

Last year, Yale had its most selective year ever, with 19,682 applicants. Only 9.9 percent of applicants were admitted, the lowest rate in the school's 303-year history. This year, applications are down 1.2 percent, admissions director Richard Shaw told the Yale Daily News.

At Harvard, a record 22,717 students vied for about 1,650 spots last year, Fitzsimmons said.

Viva MEXICO a picture from Cancun a few years ago. 

Mini- Benk Looks just like this. 

Pilli eating Carl's Jr. 

pilli about a year and a half ago 

Sucky Day

I need to type here more often. I have done many things this last month since I last blogged. I'm going to DC on Monday and starting the training for Clio. My other job is going well. We have been paying things down but still have a ways to go. Mari got new glasses and I unexpectedly got a Mini Ipod, which is called mini-benk. Good times...still have that monkey on my back but feel good. Pilli is all over the place and learning to speak so well its kinda of amazing how quickly she's learning. But I have a bunch of things I need to do today and feel really lazy about doing them. guess I'll get to it.