Across America, the recession has hit hard. Ivy League universitiesare no exception. At Brown and Yale students and administrators have found out that even in the Tower...

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--When students at Ivy League colleges take over buildings, there's usually a war or a racial issue at stake.

But at Brown University this year, the conflict was about something less abstract: money.

Five weeks ago, the calm of the campus green was shattered by 300 student protesters chanting "Need blind now."

The center of the controversy was Brown's abandonment of need-blind admissions policy--its consideration of the financial backgrounds of applicants in deciding who gets into the college. The disruption culminated in a nine-hour student occupation of Brown's University Hall.

The protest made national headlines when university police arrested 291 of the undergraduates and charged them with disrupting university employees and occupying a school building.

Classes have since ended at Brown and most of the students have left. The immediate confrontation between the administration and the students disappeared with the graduating seniors.

But the issue of need-blind admissions remains. Next year, Brown will once again conduct its admissions only after carefully scrutinizing the financial needs of its applicants.

And all across the country, students, financial aid directors and university administrators will be locked in a struggle over aid dollars and institution's budgets.

Brown Executive Vice President Robert A. Reichley says the need-blind crisis is not endemic to his university. He blames the government for failing to establish a proper plan to finance higher education.

"The government has no plan for the future," Reichley says. "Private institutions have picked up more and more of the financial aid dollar."

Ironically, students blame Brown administrators for the same failings.

Reichley says that the problem, part of a national financial crunch for higher education, will eventually come to Harvard.

"The issue of financial aid is a national problem," Reichley says. "Even the wealthiest institutions, including Harvard, know they have to deal with it."

Harvard spokesperson Peter Costa says the need-blind policy will continue indefinitely.