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Credit: Carson Kahoe

Penn’s Board of Trustees recently approved a 5.25 percent expansion of the financial aid budget along with a 3.8 percent increase in cost of attendance.  

Analysis by The Daily Pennsylvanian found that Penn's increase in cost of attendance was average compared to its Ivy League peers. Penn came in fifth in terms of percentage increase in cost, with Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth and Brown marking larger percentage increases. 

Now, further analysis has been applied to Penn's increase in financial aid and how that compares to its Ivy League peers. Among the six Ivy League institutions that have released data on changes to its financial aid, Penn's percentage increase is fourth, higher than Cornell University and Dartmouth College.

Brown will have the largest increase in financial aid of all Ivy-League universities, with an 11 percent increase in financial aid funding, to a total of $135.4 million in their financial aid budget.

Second to Brown is Yale University, where the Provost’s Office has estimated that financial aid spending will increase by over 10 percent to compensate for the 3.8 percent rise in attendance costs, the Yale Daily News reported. This will lead to an increased financial aid budget of $159.5 million.  

During the 2017 fiscal year, Harvard College students received approximately $179 million in financial aid. In response to a three percent tuition spike for the 2018-19 academic year, the University expects to spend more than $195 million on aid, an approximate nine percent increase from last year, reported the Harvard Crimson. 

Penn comes in fourth with its 5.25 percent increase, followed by Dartmouth, which approved a 4.4 percent increase in the financial aid budget for the 2019 fiscal year for a record $106 million financial aid budget, Dartmouth News reported. 

Cornell University is fifth, with financial aid spending for undergraduates increasing to $265 million, marking an approximate 3.9 percent increase, reported the Cornell Daily Sun

Although Princeton has not yet announced official plans to increase tuition, their admissions website estimates the cost of attendance in the 2018-2019 academic year to be $70,010, an approximate 4.3 percent increase from the cost of attendance during the 2017-2018 academic year, which totaled $67,100.

Columbia University has not announced any plans to increase their tuition. Neither Princeton nor Columbia University have released plans to increase their financial aid budget.