“The sit-in had zero impact,” Conroy said.
Yale Dean of Admissions Richard Shaw instead cited the Yale student government as the “major voice in terms of our consideration from the student side.”
Yalies on aid will still be expected to pay an annual student contribution of nearly $6,000, a move Eidelson called “disappointing.”
“It really is a question not of possibility, but of priorities,” Eidelson said. “We’re going to continue to push for a smaller student contribution.”
Shaw said the policy was not likely to change for the next academic year.
PATH TO REFORM
Levin said last week at the open forum that Yale didn’t “want to be left behind,” a reference to Harvard’s program and Princeton’s decision four years ago to eliminate student loans.
But four months ago, changes to the Bulldogs’ policy didn’t appear likely. Levin told students last November that Yale had reviewed Harvard’s changes in aid policy and decided not to enact a similar program.
“The fact is for families [earning] under $40,000, the parental contribution is very small,” Levin said, according to the Yale Daily News. “It’s not clear this is our highest priority move.”
At a separate November forum, Levin called Princeton’s elimination of student loans a “PR move” and claimed that Harvard’s plan only saved low-income earning students $500 in tuition fees, the YDN reported.
Bruce Breimer, college counselor at the Collegiate School in New York, said that Yale faced the possibility of falling behind its peer institutions.
“There was a lot of pressure on them to do it. There was a lot written on the fact that Yale was lagging behind the others,” Breimer said.
Yale was the only Ivy to see a decrease in applicants this year, with Harvard and Princeton both recording double-digit gains. But Breimer warned against connecting the numbers with aid policy.
“When you take a one-year skew, it can be very aberrant for a variety of reasons too numerous to mention,” Breimer said.
—Staff writer Michael M. Grynbaum can be reached at grynbaum@fas.harvard.edu.