In an interesting move to quiet the concerns about their ever growing endowment fund Stanford University has said that it will no longer charge Tuition for those students who’s parents make less then $100,000 a year and for those that make less then $70,000 a year the student will get free room and board.

The exact details of who will qualify and all the factors that will be looked at have not yet been stated but for the most part you can expect larger discounts or even free tuition for some students. Income and current wealth of the family will be considered.

So why are they doing this?

Because they have accumulated billions of dollars in their endowment fund and after scrutiny of that account they have decided to spend upto 5% of it each year. Sad but true for years they have been overcharging their students with a $30,000 + price tag for 1 year at their institution meaning most middle income families can not afford to attend while low and high income families find ways to get in.

Here’s an idea how about academic scholarships where if you are in the top 10% of SAT scores you get free tuition at any institution in the country. We need our best and brightest to be educated and price should not be a factor.

For more information visit

http://stanford.edu/