<p>HYP have raised the bar and left Cornell in the dust.</p>
<p>Financial</a> Aid Threatens Ivy Competition | The Cornell Daily Sun</p>
<p>What else could be going on here? Are Ivy League colleges realizing that athletic life is important as part of the social life of their undergraduates and they want to put a more entertaining and competitive product on the field/court? I think that the answer is yes and point to steps like Harvard’s move last year to play its first-ever night football game at Harvard stadium. </p>
<p>In the struggle for top students, social and athletic life is a point of differentiation of the undergraduate life that is offered by the Ivy colleges vs their natural, statistical competition who also play major Division I sports (Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame). The reality is that for students who might enjoy going to a nationally consequential sporting event in a major sport (football, basketball, baseball), the Ivies cannot compete. While the Ivies may never change enough to be nationally relevant in these sports (although a few of the schools can and do in ice hockey), I would say that the administrations want to provide enjoyable social outlets for their students and their alumni. Using their financial resources to achieve this seems like a reasonable goal as long as they feel they are not undermining the academic mission of their school and the conference.</p>