In-state tuition. For decades, it 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. But these days, that's no longer necessarily the case. Starting this September, some students will find a Harvard degree cheaper than one from many public universities. Harvard officials sent shock waves through academia last December by detailing a new financial-aid policy that will charge families making up to $180,000 just 10% of their household income per year, substantially subsidizing the annual cost of more than $45,600 for all but its wealthiest students. The move was just the latest in what has amounted to a financial-aid bidding war in recent years among the U.S.'s élite universities.
Though Harvard's is the most generous to date, Princeton, Yale and Stanford have all launched similar plans to cap tuition contributions for students from low- and middle-income families. Indeed, 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. And other exclusive schools have followed their lead by replacing loans with grants and work-study aid. And several more schools are joining the no-loan club this fall. Even more schools have taken steps to reduce debt among their neediest students.
數十年來，州內學費是大型州立學校得天獨厚的優勢，連常春藤聯盟都無法匹敵，因為這能為學校招來最優秀、最聰明的學生。但是如今，情況卻未必如此。從今年九月起，一些學生會發現讀一個哈佛大學的學位比許多公立大學的還要便宜。去年十二月，哈佛官員詳細闡述了一項新的財政資助政策，對於年收入不高於180000美元的家庭，只收取其中的10%作為學費。絕大多數學生的家庭經濟條件一般，本來每年要繳納45600多美元的學費，對他們而言，這可謂一份厚禮，整個學術界為之震動。近年來，美國的精英大學紛紛出臺財政資助政策，相互之間打得不可開交，哈佛大學的這一舉措只是其中最新的一項。
儘管哈佛開出的條件是迄今最優厚的，普林斯頓、耶魯和斯坦福都出臺了類似的計劃，來降低中低收入家庭的學生所需支付的`學費。而且，由於過去五年裡採用的免貸款計劃，如今幾乎每一所常春藤盟校裡接受資助的學生都很可能無債一身輕地畢業。其它收費昂貴的學校紛紛效仿，取消了貸款，發放助學金和勤工儉學補助。今年秋天，還有幾所學校會加入這個“無貸款俱樂部”。更多的學校都已採取措施，為最需要資助的學生減少債務。