Princeton increases its fin. aid

The Associated Press The university also plans to stop including the value of a family's home in calculating assets for financial aid purposes. Together, the changes could boost individual scholarship grants by up to $2,250 per student. The average Princeton freshman gets $18,290 in scholarship grants annually, the university said. ''Our aim is to do as much as we can to be sure that no student decides not to apply to Princeton solely for financial reasons,'' President Harold Shapiro said. In 1998, Princeton stopped requiring students to take out loans if their family's income was $45,000 or less. That year, the university also implemented a sliding scale to reduce the amount of loans required of students from ''middle-income'' families -- those earning between $45,000 and $63,500. Under the changes, approved Saturday by the University's Board of Trustees: -- The amount middle-income students must borrow will be reduced, to between $500 and $3,300. It is currently $600 to $3,800. -- Home equity, which has routinely been considered among the family's assets by colleges, will no longer be considered. Two years ago, Princeton eliminated home equity from the financial aid calculation for low-income students and counted it less for other students. Families have said they don't view home equity the same way they do other assets, explained university spokesman Justin Harmon. ''It was sacrosanct,'' he said. --International students will get one round-trip home per year, paid for by the university, instead of one during their entire four-year enrollment and one after graduation. Reason: To make Princeton more appealing to foreign students. The changes will be phased in, and initially will apply only to members of the freshman class that arrives in the fall. All students will be covered by the start of the 2003-2004 academic year. Princeton, which spends $26 million on scholarships annually, will make up the loss in tuition by fundraising and its own resources, Harmon said. The trustees approved a 3.3 percent increase in tuition, room and board for the 2000-2001 school year -- to $32,636 from $31,599. It is the lowest percentage increase in more than 30 years, officials said.