Cornell has vigorously reaffirmed its commitment to providing students with the financial aid they need to attend the university and has significantly increased funding -- with some awards boosted as much as 40 percent -- of a major financial aid program, officials announced last week.

With these actions, and with the substantial increase in some federal grant awards for undergraduates approved for this year and proposed again for next year, the financial aid picture for students enrolling at Cornell is brighter than it has been for some time, according to President Hunter Rawlings. Further, it compares most favorably with the financial aid situation at peer institutions, Rawlings said.

"We are very pleased that the trustees have renewed and strengthened their commitment to the university's need-blind financial aid policy, which ensures that any student who is accepted to Cornell will receive the financial aid he or she needs to enroll," Rawlings said. "I think this is a major step in terms of the message it sends to our students and their families. With this commitment and the continued generosity of our alumni, Cornell remains fully competitive with our peer institutions in the area of financial aid."

The Cornell Board of Trustees, at its regular meeting March 27, unanimously approved a recommendation by the Trustee Task Force on Admissions and Financial Aid that the university's need-blind policy on admissions and financial aid be renewed "into the foreseeable future," eliminating the current one-year term limit.

"The motion carried unanimously, as a reaffirmation of one of the most important bedrock principles of this university," said Harold Tanner, chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees.

Fellowship grants increase 40 percent

Last month, Rawlings announced that the amount of fellowship grants for students in the Cornell Tradition, an alumni-endowed program that rewards undergraduates for academic achievement and community service, will increase by 40 percent -- from $2,500 to $3,500 a year for each participating student -- in the 1998-99 academic year.

Meanwhile, Thomas Keane, director of financial aid and student employment, said that for the current year, Cornell students who qualify for federal need-based Pell grants -- about 1,900 undergraduates -- received a 10 percent increase in grant money, from $2,700 to $3,000. And, Keane noted, if President Clinton's budget proposal is approved, Pell grants will increase another $100 next year, to $3,100.

The trustee task force was created a year ago to review admissions and financial aid policies and practices in the context of an increasingly competitive higher education environment and nationwide concerns about the cost of higher education.

Last week, in addition to renewing its need-blind financial aid policy, the task force advised the board that "there is a need to continue to press for additional creative means of both funding and packaging financial aid. It is essential that Cornell substantially increase its endowment for financial aid if the university hopes to attract a diversity of the best and brightest students and remain competitive among the top national universities in the future without severely impacting on other budget priorities."

A substantial portion of Cornell's undergraduate students are dependent on financial aid. In 1996-97, 50.1 percent of all undergraduates -- 6,766 students -- received need-based financial aid, including loans and work-study funds. Of that 50.1 percent, 37.4 percent received grant aid, which does not have to be repaid. At the same time, minority students represented 27.6 percent of all undergraduates, and 68.1 percent of those minority students received need-based financial aid.

In 1996-97, Cornell undergraduates were awarded $115.6 million in financial aid of all kinds, including grants, loans and work-study monies, from all sources, with $61.5 million of that from Cornell funds. That compares with a total of $49.9 million in 1987-88 and $108.2 million in 1995-96.

Cornell spends more than peers on aid

Keane said Cornell's institutional budget for need-based aid has not yet been set for next year, but that based on past experience he expects that $61.5 million 1996-97 amount to grow to approximately $67 million. According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, such peer institutions as Princeton University, Stanford University and Yale University have set next year's institutional budgets for need-based aid at $26 million, $49 million and $31 million, respectively.

Further, a greater percentage of Cornell's undergraduate students -- 50.1 percent -- receive need-based financial aid than do those at the peer institutions. At Princeton, 41 percent of undergraduates receive need-based aid; 44 percent at Stanford; and 40 percent at Yale.

The increase in the amount of fellowship grants for students in the Cornell Tradition, the first in more than a decade, reflects a commitment from Cornell alumni and friends to increase the endowment of aid supporting students in three programs of the Cornell Commitment: 600 Tradition fellows, 250 National Scholars and 50 Presidential Research Scholars. The maximum Cornell Tradition award over four years will rise to $14,000 -- reducing the loan indebtedness students may incur while earning a Cornell degree.

When translated into loan payments, at 8.5 percent interest, the additional $4,000 over four years is equal to $50 a month for 10 years. The entire $14,000 in loan payments, at 8.5 percent interest, is equal to $174 a month for 10 years.

The Cornell Tradition was established in 1982 with an anonymous gift of $7 million. It awards 600 fellowships each year to students who demonstrate significant work experience, campus and/or community service involvement and academic achievement. Since the program began, Tradition fellowships have replaced more than $16 million in student loans. Awards are credited directly to students' bursar accounts.

"Cornell is unique," Rawlings said. "Cornell is a university of the first rank that is committed to fostering a campus community that is culturally, racially and economically diverse. To that end Cornell will continue to take whatever steps are necessary to remain accessible to all."