<p>So do you think the crisis will somehow affect the aid student from colleges ?</p>
<p>Certainly student aid is going to be affected. Just exactly how much and for which student or which college is something we can't predict. </p>
<p>I was in college on aid in the '70s when there was an economic downturn. My college did not cut back on any aid to current students, and respected the original commitment to us until we graduated. New students faced a completely different financial aid situation. I expect most colleges will try their level best to continue aid to their current students this time around too.</p>
<p>It already is affecting FA. More students are applying for more aid, putting a strain of colleges' FA resources. Many are trying to increase FA budgets, but often at the expense of construction projects, repairs and maintenance, new faculty hiring, faculty salaries, etc. At least one prominent school, Tufts, has announced that it can no longer afford to be "need-blind" in admissions, meaning they'll go out of their way to try to fill a fraction of the class with more affluent full-pay students at the expense of equally meritorious kids with financial need, as this recent NY Times article discusses:</p>
<p>I'd look for several other schools to follow Tufts' lead.</p>