Yale’s Half-Price Sale

Thanks to a new tuition policy at Yale, prospective students will be indebted to the institution—but this time with gratitude.

The Bulldogs have joined Harvard in the effort to make higher education more affordable. Under a new plan which takes effect this fall, families with financial needs could qualify for a 50 percent reduction in tuition.

Even middle- and upper-class families with incomes of $120,000 to $200,000 may experience a 33 percent decrease in the $45,000 yearly fees. Students from homes that earn less than $60,000 may enroll tuition-free, provided that they meet the academic requirements.

Together with Harvard, which also agreed to eliminate student loans, Yale is answering Congress’s call for institutions with strong endowments to “do more to ease the financial burden on families.” (Now if only Congress would heed its own advice and pass permanent tax relief!)

Interestingly enough, the timing of Yale’s announcement coincides with a lengthy feature in today’s Washington Post about one of the many consequences of overpriced education—smaller families and empty homes. Confirming what FRC and our friends like Dr. Allan Carlson have warned, the majority of couples in urban areas are postponing marriage and children, and their college debt is a major factor.

As FRC points out in our Insight paper, “Student Loans and the Retreat from the Family,” the average college student faces as much as $19,000 in debt at graduation. As a result, only 13 percent of men and 31 percent of women with college degrees have children by age 29, reports the National Opinion Research Center.

The consequences of this trend could be devastating to America. We applaud these Ivy League schools for reducing at least one of the obstacles on the path to marriage and family.

Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council. This article is excerpted from the Washington Update that he compiles for the FRC. You can read the entire version at www.frc.org.