Brown Gets on Financial Aid Bandwagon

Another day, and another school offering a new "strengthened" financial aid program. Brown University says it will increase by 20 percent the amount it spends on financial aid, to a total of $68.5 million. Families with incomes below $60,000 will not have to contribute to tuition, and families that make less than $100,000 won't have to pay student loans. Brown has also pledged to reduce loans for students across the board.

The money for the financial aid upgrade (ironically) will partially come from a 3.9 percent tuition bump, but was mostly made possible by last year's "extraordinary endowment returns." Brown's endowment totals $2.3 billion.