| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MARCH 15, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| PERSONAL BUSINESS
Behind the Student-Aid Surge David W. Breneman, dean of the Curry School of Education at University of Virginia, is an economist and authority on higher-education financing. He discussed student-aid trends with reporter Meg Lundstrom: Q: Why are colleges so willing to negotiate aid packages? A: It's a buyer's market. When the baby boom was coming onstream in the '60s and '70s, it was a seller's market. All of a sudden in the early '80s, the world flip-flopped, and there were more spaces than students. With 1,600 private colleges, the only way they fill their ranks is to discount. Q: Why are Ivy League schools competing on aid? A: Last year, Princeton was apparently having trouble attracting middle- to low-income students, so it upped its grants for that. Yale was having more problems with the upper-income bracket, so it put in aid at that level, and Dartmouth did the same. Then Harvard, in what I interpret as the blunderbuss approach, threw $2,000 at everyone. The top schools are the last ones to succumb to merit aid. But every school has a set of peer institutions it keeps an eye on. Q: How are public schools reacting? A: The attractive publics start with such a huge advantage I'm not sure they have to do a lot. They're giving away, at a bargain rate, a very good education. At the less prestigious publics, there is growing interest in programs like Georgia's Hope Scholarship that try to keep the best students in state. Q: What does it take for a college to bid aggressively for your child? A: At the Ivy League and other top-tier institutions, it takes top grades at a good school, top SATs, and something else outstanding to bring to the table--athletic or musical ability, or whatever a school may be looking for. At second- and third-tier private schools, if you're 100 points above their Scholastic Aptitude Test average and two-tenths to four-tenths of a grade point ahead, you'll get their best package. Q: Any advice for parents? A: A notion is floating around that you would be wise not to save for college because the aid system will take your own money and use it against you. But financial-aid officers get enough information about a family that they know what they're dealing with. When they see you've tried to rearrange or deplete assets to qualify for aid, that generates anger that can come back to haunt you. EDITED BY AMY DUNKIN _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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