Dec. 18, 2015
Stephen Burd is a policy analyst with New America who has studied student aid extensively. He and other critics of non-need-based aid say the pressures experienced at Madison are being felt throughout higher education, causing more and more universities to increase their merit aid spending and furthering a seemingly endless cycle of public universities competing with one another for students using merit aid.
“Given the level of competition that's out there, it's getting more and more difficult for institutions to resist. It’s just an incredibly competitive field now,” he said. “It’s kind of understandable that they would move in this direction, given the competition -- it’s just unfortunate.”