Today's New York Times had a Letter to the Editor response to a prior article by writer Tamir Lewin that was published on December 3, 2008 focusing on how College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S. based on the biennial report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Eric J. Furda, the dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania wrote that there are some institutions like his that do offer aid to students. There, undergraduate students who are eligible for financial aid are offered no-loan packages, regardless of family income.
He went on to say what this means is that students from typical families with incomes that are less than $40,000 per year will pay no tuition, nor room or board. Penn accepts students based solely on academic and other strengths, not on families’ ability to pay. And despite the current economic crisis, they remain steadfast in this commitment to educate the best and brightest young people, regardless of economic background.
Here's my favorite part of his comments... Penn’s founder Benjamin Franklin once said, an investment in education pays the greatest interest.
As I continue the work I do for my two charities, including Children of the City and the Joe Dimaggio Award Committee, for my Alma Mater, Xaverian High school (left photo), it is rewarding to know that the youth participating in these programs will have a chance to attend college and universities, because of the care we are putting into helping them now. My website, http://www.roccobasile.net/ features many of the exciting programs that are in progress. 
But it is pretty sad to read the some of the statistics in the report. College tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last ten years, while students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families.
-- Rocco Basile
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