News You Need to Know: Daily Roundup, Thurs., Oct. 12th

New Scholarship at University of Washington Will Cover Tuition of Low-Income Students

The University of Washington (UW) announced a new financial aid initiative yesterday that will provide "last dollar" scholarships to low-income in-state students. Under the scholarship program, called Husky Promise, the university will cover all tuition and fees for students whose family income is at or below 65 percent of the state median income, which is 235 percent of the state poverty level. At present, an eligible family of four would have to have an income of less than $49,500 per year. The scholarship will supplement Pell and state-based grants. The university expects to provide scholarships to about 5,000 undergraduates each year, or 20% of the undergraduate student population. Tuition is currently $5,985 a year, and the university estimates that the program will cost between $1.6 million to $2.8 million in its sixth year. The aid is guaranteed for four years, no matter how much tuition increases. UWs program is very similar to another adopted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill three years ago.

Mega-Campaigns at Elite Universities Raise Questions

Fund-raising campaigns at elite universities have been growing significantly, with each mega-campaign topping the one before as the largest in history. Columbia University announced a record $4 billion campaign two weeks ago, but on Tuesday Stanford University trumped that mark with the launch of a $4.3 billion campaign. While students at these universities will certainly benefit, other less well-endowed universities are raising questions about the negative effects of these new mega-campaigns. Critics are saying that universities are becoming banks and investment companies, and in turn losing focus on their educational goals. In addition, the gap between the very-rich universities and the slightly less-rich universities will continue to grow, further narrowing the "elite" higher education community.