The University will look into reforming its current financial aid policy following Harvard University's announcement last month that it will substantially increase financial aid to upper-middle class families, administrators said. Harvard's new plan will allow those with incomes between $120,000 and $180,000 to pay no more than $18,000, or 10 percent of their annual income, an immense discount compared to the full Harvard tuition of $45,000, The New York Times reported.

Although Brandeis cannot afford to give aid on the same scale as Harvard because it has a much smaller endowment, Peter Giumette, dean of student financial services, said that any possible changes regarding how aid is allocated are still being researched. At present, Brandeis' $500 million endowment is worth about one-seventieth of Harvard's $35 billion.

The University's current financial aid system allotted nearly $40 million to just under 60 percent of students at Brandeis this year, Giumette said.

Harvard's new financial aid plan offers free tuition to families with incomes under $60,000, as opposed to its old plan, which set the cutoff at $40,000. According to the Harvard Gazette article, families with incomes between $60,000 and $120,000 will also see an increase in financial aid. Harvard is also making the move away from loans and will begin to give students grants to pay for their tuition.

According to The Times, many universities are following in Harvard's footsteps, such as the University of Pennsylvania, Swarth- more College and Haverford College. However, due to the financial implications, many schools are having trouble keeping up.

Jean Eddy, senior vice president for students and enrollment, asked the Department of Student Financial Services to come up with several scenarios for financial aid changes and to find out how much it would cost to do something "a little bit less" than Harvard's reforms, Giumette said. The final decision will have to be approved on the board level and will definitely cost the University more than its current plan does.

One issue for Brandeis is that it cannot pay financial aid strictly out of its endowment. According to Giumette, only 25 percent of aid comes from the endowment, while the rest comes from other sources such as the tuition of students who don't require financial aid.

Giumette admitted that Brandeis needs to change its policy in order to stay competitive. "It's all about providing the best academic and financial situation that we can for families," he said.

In addition to need-based financial aid, Brandeis awards substantial merit scholarships, which schools like Harvard have chosen to replace with a fully need-based system. "The decision may be to move that merit-based money to need-based money or to do something in between," Giumette said.

Giumette said Harvard is redefining financial aid by saying, "We don't care what the formula says for families in different income brackets, we're just going to take 10 percent of your income, even though the formula may say that they can afford [to] double that or triple that," he said.

In order to propose any new plans for financial aid, the Department of Student Financial Services would have to recalculate everyone's eligibility for financial aid, which will take some time, Giumette said. Doing so would determine what the cost of changing the financial aid policy will be and whether or not the University can afford it.

Ori Shafirstein '11 said, "I would like more financial aid, but Brandeis would only be able to give it to us if it reaches higher wealth and prominence."

At the moment, Guimette said that the only way to increase financial aid on Harvard's scale would be if someone donated money specifically for aid and jokingly added that if anyone could give him money, it would be appreciated.