Financial Aid

I've just finished awarding $10 million in financial aid to students who otherwise couldn't afford to attend Johns Hopkins University. You'd think that would be a tremendously gratifying moment, an opportunity to reflect with satisfaction on the good we're doing for people who really deserve it. And it is. But it's also a tremendously frustrating moment. I'm frustrated because there is a large group of deserving people I haven't been able to help. It's tough for financial-aid officers to assist families who have never before sent a student to college.

Financial aid isn't the only way to ease the pain of paying for a college education. Here are a dozen more ideas for making it more affordable. If you are a parent paying the bills, here's what you can do: TALK WITH COLLEGE FINANCIAL-AID OFFICERS. Do this even if you do not qualify for financial aid. The officers want their college to be affordable, so they're on your team. Ask about loans for students who aren't on financial aid. For example, if you live in Pennsylvania, or your son or daughter is attending college in the state, you will learn that qualified families can borrow up to $10,000 a year from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.

Phil and Mary Ann Thomas of Cleveland used to think the IRS was nosy. Then they discovered the University of Pennsylvania's financial-aid office. Their daughter, Kristen, has been accepted into the Class of 2000, and today is the day when she and other prospective Penn students must declare their intentions with a $200 deposit. Just a month ago, Kristen Thomas was dying to find out if Penn wanted her. Now it's the school's admissions officials who sit in suspense. The fall freshman class has 2,350 openings.

Collusion and free agency are part of the everyday language of professional sports. Now they're becoming part of the lexicon of academia. Alleging antitrust violations, the U.S. Justice Department filed suit in Philadelphia last year to block Ivy League schools and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from fixing uniform financial-aid offers to students accepted at more than one of the prestigious schools. Reluctantly, the schools gave in. Constans Salcedo, an 18-year-old Texan, is one of thousands who has benefited since.

Yale University yesterday announced that it was boosting its financial-aid packages for middle-class families, joining a number of top colleges that are increasing grants, eliminating loans, and tinkering with financial-aid formulas to reduce the amount that even well-to-do families are expected to contribute. The Ivy League school is increasing its financial-aid spending by more than $24 million to $80 million annually, reducing the average cost by more than half for families with incomes up to $120,000 and by 33 percent or more for those making between $120,000 to $200,000.

Beefing up a commitment to make a Princeton education more accessible to low- and middle-income students, the university's Board of Trustees yesterday pledged that come September, no undergraduate receiving financial aid will have to take out loans to pay for school. Instead, scholarship money will now cover that portion of a financial-aid package that students previously had to borrow. The new "no-loan" policy, which Princeton officials believe is the first of its kind at a university, was approved unanimously by the board as part of a $5.6 million financial-relief package to be funded by the school's endowment fund.

Traditionally, many of America's private colleges and universities have admitted students based on intellectual merit regardless of their financial situation. Financial aid, on the other hand, has been awarded solely on the basis of need. Now these fundamental principles are under attack. On May 22, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh charged the Ivy League schools and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. According to the attorney general, the exchange of information among schools about financial-aid decisions constitutes a conspiracy to restrain price competition.

Nervous high school seniors start receiving letters from colleges this month telling them if they were accepted and - just as important for most - how much financial aid they qualified for. But some students who need to borrow more money than allowed under federal programs could find it difficult and costly thanks to the continuing repercussions of the subprime-mortgage debacle in the credit markets. Even the surefire, federally subsidized loan market is taking hits. Nineteen companies that specialize in federally guaranteed student loans have pulled out of that market, at least temporarily, according to FinAid Page L.L.C.

Do you dare say "yes" to that college waiting to hear if you, or your child, will join the freshman class this fall? With the deadline approaching, you might be hesitant, terrified by the price tag. Dropping $20,000 to $50,000 a year for anything would be intimidating. But it doesn't have to be. The price might not be as bad as you think. Here's how to know: Is that deal final? Although colleges have sent letters outlining what parents and students are expected to pay, colleges will often sweeten the deal if you ask. So look over the college's offer.

Coatesville High School defensive back Tony Miller, one of the top-rated defensive backs in the nation, faced a tough call. He could stay at home, go to Temple and play ball with his older brother, Dwayne, a cornerback for the resurgent Owls. Or he could strike out on his own and attend the University of Kentucky. To complicate matters, Miller fell short of 700 - the NCAA requirement for freshman eligibility - on his Scholastic Aptitude Test. If his latest results, which are due in two weeks, also fall short, he will have to rely on financial aid, rather than an athletic scholarship, to pay for his first year at school.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg on Monday urged federal officials to review the proposed merger between Rutgers-Camden and Rowan Universities, questioning whether a deal had been "crafted to benefit powerful political interests without regard for the impact on students. " In his letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat, expressed concern about the merger's effect on thousands of students receiving federal financial aid. The letter did not name the "political interests" involved, beyond Republican Gov. Christie.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) on Monday urged federal officials to review the proposed merger between Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University, questioning whether a deal had been "crafted to benefit powerful political interests without regard for the impact on students. " In his letter to U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Lautenberg expressed concern about the merger's impact on thousands of students receiving federal financial aid. The letter did not name the "political interests" involved, beyond Gov. Christie.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - President Obama embraced the idea of federal action to restrain the rapidly increasing cost of higher education, giving a boost to a policy idea that has been gaining steam. His proposal that colleges and universities cut costs or risk losing out on some federal aid was part of a larger package of "college affordability" ideas that the president unveiled Friday in a speech at the University of Michigan. Obama wants to increase funds for higher education, mostly through an expansion of federal loan programs.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - President Obama embraced the idea of federal action to restrain the rapidly increasing cost of higher education, giving a boost to a policy idea that has been gaining steam. His proposal that colleges and universities cut costs or risk losing out on some federal aid was part of a larger package of "college affordability" ideas that the president unveiled Friday in a speech at the University of Michigan. Obama wants to increase funds for higher education, mostly through an expansion of federal loan programs.

David Williams said he soon hopes to narrow his growing list of prospective colleges to five or so. Higher on the star running back's current to-do list, after the recent announcement that West Catholic will shut its doors come June, is deciding where he wants to spend his final year of high school. For now, his top three schools, in no particular order, are La Salle, Imhotep Charter, and Cardinal O'Hara. The speedy junior added that Archbishop Wood and Roman Catholic are also possibilities.

Question: Our son is a junior in high school, and we hope to send him to a top private college. Our income is now about $100,000, but the last couple of years have been difficult, and we have little saved. We will need financial aid. As you've suggested, we are going over our finances before the end of the year to make sure we'll qualify. We know financial aid gets cut when middle-income families have savings in their child's name. Our son has nothing, but his grandmother gave him her home a couple of years ago so it would stay in the family if she went into a nursing home.

Gingrich myths piling up Newt Gingrich has enjoyed presenting himself as a historian rather than a politician during his meteoric rise to the top of the polls in the Republican Party's presidential field ("A weak GOP field comes down to two flawed front-runners," Dec. 5). It has been a convenient excuse, claiming to be a historian rather than a lobbyist, to explain away the $1.7 million he received from Freddie Mac, while he castigated "politicians" who he claimed should be jailed for their part in the home mortgage lending fiasco.

WASHINGTON - If I had a dollar for every college student who didn't know what their student loan payments would be after they graduated, I wouldn't have to spend a single penny of the money I've saved to send my children to college. I've long been disturbed by the number of students and families who only home in on how much they've borrowed for school once the payments come due. It would be like buying a house and not knowing what your monthly mortgage payment would be until after you've moved in. But soon, families might finally be able to get clear and upfront information on what college costs and what their debt will be. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education have teamed up to launch the "Know Before You Owe" student loan project.

BASTROP, Texas - The number of homes destroyed by a Texas wildfire has risen to 1,554 and is expected to further increase as firefighters enter more areas where the blaze has been extinguished, officials said Sunday. Seventeen people remain unaccounted for. Bastrop County officials sought to provide new information to hundreds of residents evacuated from their homes a week ago, when high winds whipped up by Tropical Storm Lee swept across parched, drought-stricken Texas, helping to spark more than 190 wildfires.