"Scholarships are a priority on the agenda but stand outside the endowment," Tiedermann added. "Part of the money that was raised was raised for scholarships, not student loans."

In addition to changing the face of undergraduate financial aid, Princeton's reforms mean that next year, an additional $6 million will be spent on graduate students.

Princeton plans to double the number of humanities and social sciences doctoral students it supports from 325 to 650 and provide all first-year doctoral students with a stipend and full tuition.

Peter T. Ellison, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), said he views Princeton's graduate school reforms as similar to many of the programs Harvard already has implemented for its students.

"Some of them [Princeton's reforms] are comparable to things we do now. We give health coverage to all our graduate students," he said.

But while Princeton's graduate school reforms support first-year students in the natural sciences, Harvard science students receive no such aid.

Harvard currently supports social science and humanity students for two years, but science students are forced to support themselves through teaching.

"Funding for science students is something that we are going to have to look at and change," Ellison said.