Word: hfai
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...institution it is today—is its habit of taking big risks that yield even bigger results. One area in which Harvard’s innovation and leadership has been particularly visionary has been the fight to increase access to higher education. The fledgling Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI) program, of which we are student coordinators, is a continuation of this legacy, and in its brief lifespan it has been wildly successful. But if Harvard is to be open to students on all rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, there is still work to be done, particularly in recruiting...
...HFAI is the program through which Harvard has reinforced its commitment to opportunity and excellence across the economic spectrum. Launched by University President Lawrence H. Summers just two years ago, HFAI initially eliminated parental contributions for families with annual incomes of less than $40,000 and dramatically reduced the contributions of families making less than $60,000 a year. Last week Harvard redoubled its commitment to HFAI by announcing that, beginning with the class admitted last week, these two threshold incomes were shifted up to $60,000 and $80,000, respectively. One of the several goals of such an increase...
...HFAI is not simply limited to financial aid—it is also a recruitment program designed to attract more applicants from lower income brackets. Our recruitment efforts fall under several categories, including almuni involvement, community outreach, and recruitment by HFAI’s seven student coordinators who make thousands of phone calls and send e-mails to prospective students from search lists. But since only so much can be done over the phone or on the internet, during breaks we send 20 HFAI undergraduates on recruitment trips to their hometowns to visit local high schools and middle schools...
...address this problem in two ways. First, we inform guidance counselors about HFAI and how it makes Harvard accessible to any student who is academically qualified with the hope that the counselor will invite a wider array of students to the information session. Second, we offer ourselves as personal resources for students as they go through the application process, as students often do not know how to apply to Harvard or have sub-par guidance through the process...
Another major obstacle that HFAI faces is that many of the students who could benefit from the program are not aware of its existence. Top-notch students who qualify for HFAI are scattered across the country and most attend schools with few resources devoted to college-bound students. If they cannot find us, we have to try to find them...