Financial Aid War Among Elite Universities (The San Francisco Chronicle)

"A financial aid war is breaking out among the nation’s elite universities. More than three dozen schools have capped or eliminated loans, tuition or parental contributions for low-, middle- and in some cases upper-middle-income students," The San Francisco Chronicle reports. "The movement could help put a damper on skyrocketing college costs. But schools with smaller endowments and larger percentages of low-income students will be hard pressed to match the price cuts of the richest schools. Justin Draeger, a spokesman for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators… says some ‘schools without large endowments are trying to find creative ways to help low-income and middle-class students.’ One example is the University of Maryland Pathways program. ‘They’re doing some things to address provisions in the federal (financial aid) regulations that penalize students who are working.’"

You can read the complete February 21, 2008 San Francisco Chronicle article on-line.