Making H free doesn’t remove the incentive to recruit rich kids. Rich kids’ parents donate. Poor kids’ parents can’t. Endowments start with donations.
Here’s my perspective on the “make Harvard free” debate.
- Harvard is already pretty much free to most families with incomes less than $65,000 / year (except for a student contribution) and is (I’d argue) pretty inexpensive for families with incomes up to $150,000 / year. So making Harvard free isn’t go to change a lower income student’s bill much.
Instead, what people seem to be proposing is some extremely bizarre “marketing” campaign where Harvard spends about $120,000,000 per year in forgone revenue just so that they can make a very simple marketing appeal - “Harvard is totally free for everyone ” - instead of “Harvard is pretty much free if you make less than $65,000 / year”. Even more crazily, the $120,000,000 per year isn’t being spent on outreach to students or to guidance counselors; instead, it’s mostly going to Harvard families making over $250,000 / year.
Will this help get more qualified lower-income students to apply? Honestly, I think it will help some, but not a lot. Getting into Harvard is still a long shot for most students and isn’t on many students’ radar. I think you need to couple it with more effective outreach to students in under-served communities. Unfortunately, no one really seems to know how to do this much better than they already are. The only people who think this is simple are people who sit on their couches at home. Schools like Harvard are already trying really hard (more about this below); for example, I think they send already emails to any student who signs up with the College Board to be contacted and who gets more than a 2000 SAT telling them about the great financial aid. God knows schools like Chicago have tried aggressive marketing too. There isn’t a silver bullet. The people in the trenches know how hard this is.
I would humbly suggest that if you’re going to spend $120,000,000 / year on “marketing”, then you could find better ways to spend it. Maybe buy 4,000 guidance counselors every year a new car and ask them to encourage students to apply? More seriously, maybe you could personally call each and every student who has a high SAT score and encourage them to apply to Harvard. Of course, at the end of the day they still only have 1700 spots in their freshman class. Maybe they take in an extra 100 or 200 Pell eligible students? I’d expect people would cynically accuse them of merely trying to drive their selectivity higher.
- I think people have completely missed the real impact of “Harvard is free”. It isn’t on Harvard’s student body. It’s the possible impact on all of higher education. I don’t have a crystal ball, but here’s a guess - such a move would send shock-waves across the collegiate landscape. In addition to 5 or so other elites matching Harvard’s policy, it would put massive pressure on other colleges to hold the line on tuition increases …. After all, if HYPSM are free, what right does Podunk U. have to charge $40,000 / year??? Of course, Podunk U. would say it doesn’t have billions in endowment and can barely make ends meet as it is. Still, my guess is that the nature of the conversation would totally change and the rise in tuition would slow down a lot.
Of course, this might be a very good thing. I suppose the counter-argument would be that we’re just going to end up with a faculty made up of adjuncts?
- Should Harvard eliminate the student contribution, at least for lower income families? I guess they could. I don’t think it’s the money that’s stopping them. I think many people – including many donors who themselves worked their way out of poverty – feel that a student should make some modest contribution of their own in exchange for the gift of a Harvard education. People tend not to appreciate something if they are given it completely for free. Personally, I could go either way on this issue. However, I am inclined to say that if a family makes over $35,000 / year and has no unusual circumstances, then the student contribution makes sense.
Cooper Union, not Union.
And I do not think colleges report outside monies when listing aid.
" more effective outreach to students in under-served communitiies."
That, folks. Not assuming that making it free for everyone is some fabulous publicity campaign that trickles down to low SES. Or that driving up app numbers from families earning 65-150k+++ really does anything for the U.
Btw, Harvard doesn’t care if you think the publicity is bad.
“is Harvard doomed in this respect? There’s absolutely nothing they could do to change the perceptions of those who are not already into Harvard?”
No, Harvard’s not doomed, but the people who are going to have their ears out to the “now Harvard is free for everyone!” are the groups who are already attuned to Harvard in the first place – upper middle class professionals who are now rubbing their hands at the idea that instead of being the $60k/year chumps, they could get it for free.
Giving away $60k/year to the i-banker and hedge fund manager families doesn’t do one bit to increase / change the perceptions of those for whom H is another planet.
Yes, at least some do. Harvard does. http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2013-14.pdf?m=1420474747
“Scholarships/grants from external sources (e.g., Kiwanis, National Merit) not awarded by the college” are considered need-based scholarships/grants.
.“I think many people – including many donors who themselves worked their way out of poverty – feel that a student should make some modest contribution of their own in exchange for the gift of a Harvard education. People tend not to appreciate something if they are given it completely for free. Personally, I could go either way on this issue. However, I am inclined to say that if a family makes over $35,000 / year and has no unusual circumstances, then the student contribution makes sense.”
FWIW, D’s LAC (an elite LAC with very generous financial aid, though not Harvard-level) still requires a contribution of, I think, $1,500/year from the poorest households. There were protests against it and some of these students “demanded” (in that cute little temper tantrum way that’s the big thing these days) that they get this premier education, opportunities, etc. for absolutely free. As a full-pay parent, that bugs me. It’s not as though my $60k/year just grew on the apple tree outside my house and all I had to do was go pluck it.
Oh, I think “Harvard is free!” would indeed be a big enough national news story to make a difference in low-income recruitment. It’s just not the only way to achieve that goal, and attaching it to a huge giveaway to rich kids would IMHO outweigh the benefits.
" If a kid in a small town got into such a college and his parents refused to pay (including even selling out their property to come up with the money), the parents would be despised by the majority of families in that town. "
Well, that’s just indicative of poor values all around – that a) other people in your town – strangers! – would even KNOW what you were doing with your finances, and b) that you’d care one bit about what they think about your personal financial decisions.
If the people who can vote in the election–Harvard degree holders–wish to elect these single-issue candidates, that’s their prerogative. I doubt the slate intends to keep anything they learned confidential, nor do they seem interested in the welfare of the institution as a whole.
I don’t think Harvard’s alumni, all of whom were admitted under the holistic model, intend to give up holistic admissions (and affirmative action) for GPA & test score cutoffs. I suspect everyone running on the rebel slate does fall into the upper income category, and thus does feel that making it free for all would be a good idea.
I have heard credible accounts of guidance counselors advising bright low-income students not to cast a wider net. Usually, it can be traced to a counselor who hasn’t kept up with the times. That is a serious issue, as some of the students may end up not applying to private colleges (or merit aid colleges) which could be less expensive than the high school’s default option. That is not Harvard’s fault, however.
If H was free, I’d encouraged my kids to apply. We’re upper income and don’t think it’s worth paying full price for an undergraduate degree, when our kids have a competitive profile which will garner generous merit money elsewhere.
H is already free for poor kids (need blind and meets full need). Making it free for everyone will make it even more difficult for poor kids to compete.
We can take this argument a step further. I heard on the news today that 62 people own as much as the bottom one half of all the people on this earth. We could do an asset tax of a very small percentage each year on those 62 people if they have any relationship with this country and probably provide free college education for all colleges not just Harvard for all residents of this country from the money raised each year.
@gphi777 Those individuals presumably pay income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes. Harvard does not (although the City of Boston has negotiated some money out of them over the years). Harvard is not the same as a wealthy individual. They got those donations because of a tax subsidy and they keep their earnings due to a subsidy. They get that subsidy as long as they benefit the public good. They do. The debate here is whether they do enough.
“Usually, it can be traced to a counselor who hasn’t kept up with the times. That is a serious issue, as some of the students may end up not applying to private colleges (or merit aid colleges) which could be less expensive than the high school’s default option. That is not Harvard’s fault, however.”
I don’t think anyone has said it’s Harvard’s fault that there are overworked and/or ill-informed guidance counselors out there. Nor is it Harvard’s fault that their brand power is stronger in some areas and weaker in others.
It all depends on what you see as “the problem.” If you see the problem as “Harvard costs a lot - even for rich people,” well, sure, the answer might be “make it free for all.” If you see the problem as “these great, and free / nearly free opportunities at Harvard go unknown in quarters where they could really make a difference,” then the answer is “do particular outreach to rural, underserved communities to help them understand H isn’t another planet.” Ethically, it’s hard for me to say that problem #1 is a bigger problem than problem #2.
@Hanna - Perhaps you’re right. But it would have to be one whale of a difference to justify $120,000,000 / year.
If it resulted in an increase of 120 low income students per year out of Harvard’s incoming class of 1700, you could just give each of them a lump sum $1,000,000 grant instead of admitting them. A lot of students might opt for that instead. Personally, I’d take the money and run 
Even if you kicked out every single middle and upper income student and replaced them with a lower income student, you’re talking an additional 1350 low income students in admitted class (19% of Harvard College’s student body is currently Pell eligible). You could give each of them almost $100,000 instead of admitting them.
$100,000? That might even make slumming it in New Haven worthwhile (though I have to admit that Pepe’s is pretty good.) 
@gettingschooled We could go round and round on this. But it really comes down to whom should pay. There have been articles in the newspapers that Romney didn’t pay any taxes and that Apple with all its wealth pays little or no tax. Personally I think the current structure of tuition charges at Harvard is fine. (Isnt Harvard paying for a new train station in Allston to the tune of 25 million dollars as well as donating the land?)
@PG, Regarding “just indicative of poor values all around.”
This is definitely true from the POV of the (arguably speaking) main stream culture here. What is perceived as a good value here could be interpreted in a different way (e.g., the “leadership” quality of a student could be frown upon.) This kind of “group virtue” (instead of individual one) mentality is what my wife and I were trying to escape from. But the social force could still be strong there unless you choose to not live in that environment. What others think of you could affect your day-to-day life. People grew up from a different environment could hardly understand this aspect of their lives.
I’d settle for these 62 individuals paying income taxes on their passive income at the same painful rate I have to pay.
Warren Buffet remarked that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary.
I’d settle for these 62 individuals paying income taxes on their passive income at the same painful rate I have to pay.
Warren Buffet remarked that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary.
There are a little over 20 million college students in the US. About 6600 of them attend Harvard College, or about 0.0003%
We sure do spend an awful lot of time obsessing over the plight of that 0.0003%.