Wednesday, October 7, 1998

Furstenberg Explains Financial Aid

Karl Furstenberg is the Dean of Admissions of Dartmouth College. Last week, when I got in touch with him to ask for an interview, he told me that Dartmouth was considering major changes in its financial aid packages to put it more in line with the recent changes announced by Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Stanford. This is the text of our discussion of financial aid.

How Dartmouth Computes Financial Aid

When it recieves an applicant for Financial Aid, the College first asseses the ability of the applicant's family to pay for College, taking into account not only income but also assets and liabilities (such as other children in college). The College then arrives at a dollar amount which it assumes the family will be able to pay — assume in a hypothetical case $10,000.

That's Where the Money Is

Forty years ago, in a smoke-filled back office of some university hall, the eight Ivy League colleges and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology together decided to limit competition for desirable students by prohibiting merit scholarships. They allowed only need-based financial aid.

Brown: No Financial Aid Necessary

In the February issue of Vanity Fair, Janet Conant wondered why Brown has become a haven for the offspring of the exclusively moneyed. Her conclusion would be obvious to a slow-witted chambermaid — Brown needs the cash.

Saving Kathleen Willey's Cat

Kathleen Willey has reported that when she went to the Oval Office to ask Clinton to help in finding a job, he groped her, put her hand on his aroused crotch and requested the usual. Willey's account on '60 Minutes' seemed to many persuasive and damaging.

Training Big Brother

The theory behind UGA training is to take a week before the freshmen come to give UGAs some sort of grounding in the relevant skills (even when I try to explain the UGA program I slip into jargon). Problem is, we've all learned the relevant skills by being alive for nineteen years. So the ORL session dissolves into a big cliched wuss-fest.

11,200 Feet and Falling Fast

Only after I was about to jump out of an airplane at 11,200 feet did it hit me that a fraternity party isn't the best place to make a life or death decision. But I had already waived all of my legal rights and been seperated from $165 of my money, so I thought, to hell with it, and lept out.

Bowen and Bok's New Book: Benjamin Wallace-Wells reviews 'The Shape of the River'

Derek Bok and William Bowen have just published a book, The Shape of the River, which argues for the use of racial affirmative action in college and university admissions. Bok is the former President of Harvard and Bowen is the former President of Princeton, so their book has gotten a lot of notice.

How Horrible is Bill Kartalopoulos?

Very horrible indeed. This overwrought narcissist was, somehow, the Graphics Editor of The Dartmouth Review a couple of years back (the editor at the time just completed a six-month jail term if that helps to explain anything), then turned into a College dupe, dyed his hair an iridescent orange and pierced his face.