It’s free.
As in F-R-E-E, free. At least for most families where the household income is $200,000 or below.
Of course, you still have to pass the standards of the school’s admissions board. But don’t assume that means straight-A’s and perfect scores.
You can just be you. If you feel you are truly special and worthy.
But now money, or class, shouldn’t get in the way.
And no one has to mention that bad word these days: Race.
So, if you’ve been shooting for two years at your local JUCO, followed by two years at the big state school, in order to save money, aim higher. Harvard has had alumni like Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African American woman to the high court. There’s Alvin Bragg, the District Attorney of New York who successfully prosecuted Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels/Hush Money case.
In the arts, there’s Courtney B. Vance, the actor, who played a lawyer, the O.J. Simpson defense attorney Johnnie Cochran, in FX’s “American Crime story.” Vance is now running to be an overseer at the Harvard.
And now after what Harvard did this week, you or your kids could be the next Ketanji Brown Jackson, Alvin Bragg, or Courtney B. Vance.
Harvard’s decision follows the path of other schools that have come to the conclusion, that elite schools like Stanford and MIT, can afford to be more magnanimous to more people, especially those potential students and families who aren’t wealthy.
These days, a household income of $200,000 a year is unfortunately just a decent middle class income. It’s a family of a nurse and mid-level manager. An administrator and a fire fighter. Maybe some overtime involved.
Previously, the income number for Harvard was set at around $85,000 which is fairly modest, but more like households of two fast food managers. It’s also not as realistic in terms of attracting the most people who might give Harvard a second look. Some of course will, but at that income level, the pool is relatively small. There are more first-time college admits.
By lifting the income level, the number of people broadens to include more college educated households, and helps the school lose the tag of being elitist. There’s also likely to be a more diverse racial pool.
And that may be the prime motivator of going free. It overcomes the hurdle placed by the Supreme Court that bars the use of race in admissions through the process often called “affirmative action.”
Subsequent to that ruling, diversity at Harvard had taken a hit. Indeed, the school has been so gun-shy about using or talking about race in order not to violate the SCOTUS ruling. But with an expanded pool, maybe the numbers of Black and Latino students improve.
It’s a workaround to get by the legal roadblocks put up by those against race and diversity. And it gets past the biggest obstacle about a school like Harvard.
It’s always been, “can I afford the $80-90,000 it costs to go there?”
Harvard isn’t the first to reach out in this way. In many ways, Harvard was forced to. But why did it take so long?
Harvard is well-endowed. Harvard could always afford it. They could call it a scholarship, but it just makes better marketing sense to say Harvard is Free. Still, we all know there’s no free lunch, will Harvard really be free? Will there be a stigma attached to getting in free?
If people know, will that impact one’s status among those who want to preserve the school’s elitist tag? As an alumnus, I like the idea. But then when I applied, my family relied exclusively on Social Security and SSI. An income of $200,000 is middle-class in America. There will be more diversity in this group, without trying to appeal to race.
If this is the way to overcome the legal attacks on race-based admissions, and a bad SCOTUS decision, that’s great. It’s premeditated accidental social justice. It also shows there’s a way to fight all the present anti-DEI, anti-higher ed decisions, if colleges can be ever more creative with costs and accounting.
But the upside is worth it. Schools that may have seemed distant and unreachable can act more for the public good than they ever have. Removing the cost factor makes sense. Harvard isn’t a public school. But at least now to a segment, it’s free.
Emil Guillermo is a journalist, commentator, and former adjunct professor. You can reach him at www.amok.com
