Princeton enhances financial aid awards
On the recommendation of President Shapiro, the trustees
of the University will further increase the scholarship
portion of many undergraduate financial aid awards.
It will do this by reducing the amount that students are
required to borrow and by entirely removing the value of the
family home from its financial aid calculations. These
actions build on initiatives begun in 1998 to increase
Princeton's affordability for students from lower and
middle-income families.
Specifically, having already eliminated loans from the
financial aid packages of lower-income students and reduced
the level of borrowing required for middle-income students,
Princeton will now further reduce the amount that
middle-income students are asked to borrow. Also, having
already excluded the value of the family home in calculating
what many families are expected to pay, the University will
now extend this policy to all financial aid
calculations.
The cumulative effect of both changes is expected to
increase some students' scholarship grants by as much as
$2,250. The average scholarship grant for Princeton's
current freshman class is $18,290.
"Princeton already has a very strong financial aid
program, and these changes will make it even stronger,"
Shapiro said. "Our aim is to do as much as we can to be sure
that no student decides not to apply to Princeton solely for
financial reasons. We believe that most lower and
middle-income families will find that the cost of attending
Princeton falls in line with--or below--what it costs to
attend the major state universities."
In addition, the University will increase the travel
allowance for international students, making it more
comparable to the allowance offered to residents of the
United States and Canada.
Reduced loan requirements
In 1998 Princeton adopted a policy of not requiring any
student loan when a family's income falls below the national
median (currently estimated at $45,000). In addition, the
University introduced a sliding scale that this year reduced
the required loan for students with family incomes between
$45,000 and $63,500. Instead of the regular loan of $4,330,
students from families at this income level were asked to
borrow amounts that ranged from $600 to $3,800.
Now Princeton will further reduce loan requirements for
these students. In addition, students with family incomes
above $63,500 will also have their loans reduced by between
$500 and $1,000. It is estimated that these changes will
affect 270 students in next fall's incoming class; on
average, they will lower a student's loan by $750 per year
and increase the student's scholarship by the same
amount.
Two years ago Princeton removed the value of the family
home from its financial aid calculations for families with
incomes below a certain threshold and counted half of the
value for families in a higher range and three-quarters of
the value for families in the highest range. The complete
elimination of the value of the family home from all aid
calculations is expected to affect 160 students in next
fall's incoming class, reducing the typical parental
contribution by $1,500 per year and increasing the student's
scholarship by the same amount.
These two changes in policy will be phased in, beginning
with the Class of 2004 to be admitted this spring. When
fully phased in after four years, they will increase
Princeton's commitment to student aid by $1.88 million a
year.
Effective with the summer of 2000, Princeton will fund
one trip home each year for international students who
receive financial aid. The policy has been to fund one trip
home during the four years of enrollment, plus a trip home
after graduation. The new plan is intended to increase the
University's attractiveness to foreign students and to
create more humane and equitable circumstances for those who
enroll. The change builds on other recent efforts to improve
financial aid offerings to international students, with the
goal of moving toward the same need-blind admission policy
that is in place for US and Canadian students.
Two fundamental commitments
The changes in financial aid policy are intended to
further improve a financial aid program grounded in two
fundamental commitments: to admit students on a "need-blind"
basis and to meet the full financial need of all admitted
students. The latest financial aid improvements are intended
to further increase the likelihood that students needing
financial aid will apply and that admitted students who need
aid will enroll.
The new policies adopted in 1998 yielded several
important gains:
An increase in the percentage of students on
scholarship, from a low of 38 percent in the Class of 2001
to levels more in keeping with historic levels of 41 to 42
percent in the classes of 2002 and 2003;
A larger than usual increase in the average
scholarship (reflecting a decrease in the average loan),
from $15,064 in the Class of 2001 to $18,290 in the Class of
2003; and
An increase in the percentage of admitted aid
students who enroll, from 60 percent in the Class of 2001 to
64 to 65 percent in the Classes of 2002 and 2003.
Approximately 68 percent of all students who received an
offer of admission to Princeton's Class of 2003 actually
enrolled. While lower-income students (i.e., those who
benefited most from Princeton's 1998 loan-reduction policy)
enrolled at this same rate of 68 percent, only 61 percent of
admitted aid students in the middle-income group (i.e.,
those who benefited less from the 1998 policy) enrolled.
Tuition to increase 3.3 percent
The trustees acted January 29 on budget recommendations
from President Shapiro that were based on the
recommendations of the Priorities Committee, which includes
faculty, students and staff members. The trustees also
approved a 3.3 percent increase in tuition, room and board
for 2000-01, the lowest percentage increase at Princeton in
more than 30 years. (Last year's increase was 3.5
percent.)
"Princeton has followed a policy in recent years of
bringing down the rate of increase in student fees to a
level that roughly corresponds to national increases in
family incomes, while also providing for significant
increases in our commitments to student aid and to enhancing
the quality of our programs of teaching and research," said
Provost Jeremiah Ostriker, who chairs the Priorities
Committee. "We have been able to achieve all of these
objectives in large measure because of the extraordinary
generosity of our alumni, especially in their support of
student aid."
To help families and college counselors estimate how much
a family actually would have to pay, the University
developed a financial aid estimator program, which is posted
on its Financial Aid Office web page at
www.princeton.edu/pr/aid/.
After the family answers about a dozen questions
regarding its financial status, the system calculates an
expected family contribution, compares it to Princeton's
charges to arrive at an estimated award, and "packages" the
award into scholarship, loan (if applicable) and campus
job.
Although the information is preliminary, if the family's
income and asset information remains relatively stable, the
family gets a good idea of the probable amount of
scholarship, loan and campus work in its financial aid
award.
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