January 18, 2008

'Have Not' Colleges Need New Ways to Compete With Rich Ones

By JOHN MAGUIRE and LAWRENCE BUTLER

Last month's announcement by Harvard University that it will eliminate loans and ask families making between $120,000 and $180,000 a year to pay no more than 10 percent of their incomes brought into bold relief a misguided debate that has erupted around other, less-elite private colleges' use of merit aid to attract students.

Many of the students who receive such aid from those private colleges come from affluent families, and, according to the critics, the awards ultimately result in

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