Colorado's Boettcher Scholarship was endowedfor students like Leslie, and it is this kind ofoutlay that Harvard found in the hands of many ofits admitted students this spring. Each year, 40Colorado residents are awarded full tuition, roomand board for four years as long as they remainin-state.

Munoz says Stanford was originally herpreferred pick, but it refused to budge on itsnot-generous-enough offer. When Munoz visitedHarvard Yard over Easter break, she fell in love.Her family sat down with financial aid officerSally E. Champagne in Byerly Hall to see if heraid offer could be raised.

In the end, when push came to shove, Harvardforked over the $2,000 in direct grant aid. TheMunoz family, with a sister about to get married,faced an unexpected burden, Harvard ruled.

Leslie also happened to be seriouslyconsidering Yale and the Boettcher Scholarshipwith Denver University.

Munoz was not alone in needing more thanprestige to accept Harvard's offer. High schoolcounselors surveyed earlier this spring agreedthat though name value is a big factor in collegechoice, it is not the only factor.

"Let's be honest: Finances enter into theequation," says Ann M. Murchison, a counselor atFort Worth Country Day School in Texas. "If youcan get an equal or similar education at anotherhigh-level school and perhaps get a betterfinancial aid package, the other school may bemore tempting."

The trick to beating this kind of scholarship,as Harvard officials discovered in Munoz's case,seems to be providing enough aid to bring Harvardwithin "shouting distance" of the competing offerand then let prestige do the rest. But prestige byitself just can't compete.

"People will walk away from this place," Millersays. "If we had done nothing [about increases inaid at other schools] this spring, I don't knowwhat would have happened."

Change in the Air

Byerly Hall worked overtime to handle "shoutingdistance" claims from people like Munoz--six-dayweeks and 12-hour days for the entire month ofApril.

Miller originally said that over the course ofthis trying month, his office realized "shoutingdistance" could not work in the long term.

"Down the road," Miller said, it is importantfor Harvard to commit itself to an official policychange, to eliminate headaches for parents and aidofficers alike.

All semester, everyone involved with financialaid changes has stressed that Harvard was beingcircumspect instead of stubborn--scared that aknee-jerk policy change would be impractical ortoo expensive for the long term.

And this semester may have also been animportant experiment to determine the shape of thenew policy, generating a model for how closeHarvard's financial aid must be to its competitorsbefore name value does the rest.

Neither Rudenstine nor Miller would speculatein detail on next fall's changes, other than tosay the need-blind admissions, need-based aid andsome element of self-help would be preserved.