Apparently Robert Harris Jr., Cornell vice provost for diversity and faculty development, is getting ready to release a 'diversity report' that will position the University for further staff, faculty, and student development along diverse lines. The Chronicle has a rather candid article on the report and its aims. One select passage states:
Cornell champions its needs-blind admissions policy. But it faces a major challenge in how to compete with schools that offer merit or athletic scholarships -- Cornell doesn't -- as well as how to compete with such universities as Harvard, Princeton and Yale, which offer free tuition with no loans attached for students whose family incomes are below a certain level. Cornell offers many need-based scholarships, including free tuition, but loans are usually part of the package, Harris said.
I doubt Cornell would ever be able to compete with some of the richer schools in this regard -- some of these schools wield endowments of over $1 million per student, while Cornell barely scrapes together an endowment of $300,000 per student -- not to mention the fact that these richer schools have a lot less poor kids that they need to accomodate, so of course they can afford it.
Meanwhile, Harvard's Crimson reports:Eighty percent of students admitted to the Class of 2010 will matriculate at the College next year, giving Harvard its highest yield in over a quarter century, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said yesterday.
Fitzsimmons attributed the high yield primarily to the expanded Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI), which this year made Harvard free to all students whose parents earn less than $60,000 a year, up from a previous annual salary of $40,000.
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