Financial Aid Increases at Top Schools

For decades, in-state tuition was the one advantage big state schools had that even the Ivy League couldn't match, in terms of recruiting the best and the brightest to their campuses. These days, though, that's no longer the case. Starting this September, some students will find a Harvard degree cheaper than one from many public universities. Though Harvard's is the most generous to date, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale and Stanford have all launched similar plans to cap tuition contributions for students from low- and middle-income families. Students on financial aid at nearly every Ivy stand a good chance of graduating debt-free, thanks to loan-elimination programs introduced over the past five years. Other exclusive schools have followed their lead, as Williams, Amherst, Davidson College, and William & Mary all replaced loans with grants and work-study aid starting last year.