<p>The Wall Street Journal has been running articles about Harvard's cutting tuition next year - offering more grants to families. Is Dartmouth planning to increase grants for middle and upper middle income families soon?</p>
<p>(THere was also another article in todays WSJ about the same topic)</p>
<p>December 11, 2007, 9:11 am
Lower College Tuition May Ease Headaches for Parents
Posted by Sara Schaefer Munoz</p>
<p>Last month we debated whether its the worth the cost to send your child to a high-priced high school and college. Now, Harvard is responding to criticism that elite colleges have become unaffordable for ordinary Americans. The school announced that its sweetening financial aid for middle and upper-middle class families. See the WSJ piece here.</p>
<p>chartThe Ivy League school said undergraduates whose families earn up to $180,000 would be asked to pay 10% or less of their incomes annually for the ost of Harvard, which this year totals $45,456. A family making $180,000 would pay $18,000, down from $30,000, for example. At lower income levels, families would pay a smaller percentage of income, declining to zero at $60,000 a year.</p>
<p>It says that says the initiative would reduce the cost of attending the college by one-third to one-half, making the price comparable to in-state tuition and fees at top public universities. Harvard has a $35 billion endowment, the biggest in higher education. Congress has discussed requiring universities to spend more of their endowments annually to lower the cost of education.</p>
<p>In recent years, a number of other marquee institutions including Amherst, Columbia, Princeton, Stanford and Yale have taken similar steps, such as increasing aid and scrapping student loans, according to the Journals article.</p>