The tremors that began in 1998 culminated in a financial aid revolution this year after highly selective colleges signaled their commitment to attracting diversity by boosting financial aid packages for the second time in three years.

As it did in the last round of debt reduction, Princeton University set the benchmark by replacing all student loans with grants in January. This move was soon followed by Harvard's February announcement that it would grant financial aid recipients an additional $2,000 to apply towards the self-help requirement, or the portion that students are expected to contribute to their aid package.

Harvard's move was part of a larger trend that shows colleges are increasingly using aid to attract high-caliber applicants. With these changes, talented applicants can now forget about the life-long debt load often seen as an inevitable and unwelcome accompaniment to a college education.

Over the course of this year, Harvard, MIT and Dartmouth College have all announced major changes to the way they distribute aid. In the space of three and a half years, Harvard has increased financial aid packages by $4,000. Smaller colleges have made changes as well. Williams College, for example, capped tuition and significantly reduced the maximum loan over the past four years.

Harvard financial aid officers insist the College did not make the changes as a response to Princeton's move, instead crediting a healthy economy and alumni support for financing the changes to the program. Harvard's endowment last year grew from $14 billion to $19.2 billion, and the recently concluded University Capital Campaign allowed Harvard to increase its financial aid budget by $8.3 million.

"Our efforts were very independent," says Sally C. Donahue, Harvard's director of financial. "There are a number of schools relative to the rest of the country blessed with strong endowments. It was the time to focus on our financial aid."

Harvard's changes to its financial aid program also come out of a concern for maintaining diversity in its student body. The College has also focused on a minority recruitment drive over the past three years.

"We changed the financial aid program again because we wanted to be sure financial considerations don't stand in the way of a student thinking he should come here," says Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath-Lewis '70-'73. "We are reaching out to students who would not think about us."

"Our main task is to make sure we seem accessible so talented students with good records seem like they have a shot for admission," McGrath-Lewis says. "Talent and promise are the only tickets for admission. We want to be sure financial considerations don't keep out talented students."

Universities are in competition with each other for the most talented applicants and often use financial incentives to draw promising students. Harvard does not offer need-blind aid. However, outside the Ivy League, universities have added assets to offer applicants, including trips abroad and spending money.

At Emory University, scholarship winners receive room and board, reimbursements for money spent on cultural events in Atlanta and $1,000 to spend on a summer in Europe for "personal enhancement."

"We don't buy students," McGrath-Lewis says. "It must feel like a bidding war for students who are in the lucky position of having a number of opportunities."

McGrath-Lewis says Harvard admissions officers look closely at the decisions students make between Harvard and schools that offer merit-based aid.

"We are always aware of changes taking place at other institutions," Donahue says. "We feel strongly about remaining competitive."

Harvard financial aid officials were not alone in noticing that large self-help requirements could hinder students' experience at college.