COLUMN: Grant will help Tigers' athletics

Scott Miller, Commentary No one can argue the fact that top private schools have lost quality students to competitive state schools and their lower costs. Not one athletic director in the Ancient Eight, however, will doubt that Princeton president Harold Shapiro just pulled an ace out of his sleeve. Consider: Old Nassau basketball has always been the Ivies' media darling. After knocking off defending national champion UCLA in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament, the Tigers could apparently do no wrong. After Pete Carill's retirement and induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the media darlings became media whores. Whores that everyone wanted -- and still wants -- to take home with them. Penn basked in the limelight a few years ago with undefeated men's basketball and football teams; the hoops squad made national headlines in defeating Nebraska in the first round of the 1994 NCAA tournament. For Penn, the athletic success also relieved the University of the negativity of the "Water Buffalo" incident. Princeton now receives more positive attention than any other Ivy school, and is getting positive reviews for its new financial aid plan, which will convert loans into outright grants for the lesser-endowed student. This plan will do wonders for Princeton. Every other Ivy League school might as well close up shop in their athletic departments -- especially the University of Pennsylvania. If the Princeton trustees approve this plan on Saturday, Ivy League athletics will take on a whole new meaning. Schools that have to compete almost solely with each other for athletes will see no more competition. Princeton's got it bagged. Princeton already has the upper hand with its current national notoriety. But beginning Sunday, that advantage could take a giant step forward. Suppose Dartmouth and Princeton heavily recruit a given athlete. The athlete is already leaning toward Princeton because of the media recognition and assumed prestige. This student now has another choice: Owe $10,000 in loans after graduation, or have it already paid -- by someone else. At Dartmouth, where financial aid awards are more indicative of the rest of the league, the athlete will graduate in debt. At Princeton, the grant money will have essentially lowered tuition costs. Will Harold Shapiro or anyone at Princeton ever say on the record how beneficial this will be to recruiting athletes, thus making its athletic teams even better and above all competition? No way. Will Harold Shapiro or anyone at Princeton ever admit that this was even some part of their larger plan? Forget about it. Financial aid at Princeton will move one inch closer to scholarship. The school tried it before. In 1986, Princeton offered up $1,000 merit-based grants. 1986 was also a low year in Princeton athletics. The football team was nowhere on the map, and Brown had surpassed Penn and Princeton for the basketball crown. But certainly the Tigers remembered what it was like to be on the national scene. In 1984, Princeton knocked off San Diego in the first round of the NCAA tournament before falling to Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV basketball squad. Did that lack of attention play a part in the 1986 decision, which was eventually killed under pressure from the other seven Ivy schools? No one will ever say, but it is certainly plausible. This restructured financial aid plan will affect Penn athletics the hardest. For the most part, Penn and Princeton share the same recruiting grounds -- more than any other two Ivy schools. Now, the fight for athletes will become that much tougher for Penn. More bluntly, how could any inner-city Philadelphia athlete turn down Princeton with the knowledge that they will have a "scholarship" coming to them. The basis for determining how much money is allocated for the athletes will be the same, the difference will be how much less they have to pay back. At Princeton, it will be much less. Sure, Penn has the Wharton School and the Nursing School as feathers in its academic cap. But it doesn't need to be said that Princeton, Harvard, Yale or most other Ivies carry a little more academic prestige with their names. Penn's academic highlights merely equalize the academic side of the recruiting playing field. Princeton is taking away the balance of the financial aid aspect, and that aspect is what was supposed to be the most even. No scholarships. That's what the Ivy League has been about. This is the first step toward breaking that institution.