Recent financial-aid reforms at a number of top universities set the stage for Columbia to provide more generous benefits for its students. The administration stepped up Tuesday with an impressive plan that eliminates family contributions for those with annual incomes under $60,000 and converts loans to grants for Columbia College and School of Engineering and Applied Science students. Though Columbia’s announcement regretfully received little media attention in the wake of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s lurid scandal, it promises real benefits for students who rely on financial aid.

Spurred by students’ calls for increased aid as well as competition among top schools to increase benefits for lower- and middle-income families, Columbia’s reforms focus on low-income students while significantly reducing contributions from families with annual incomes under $100,000. The new plan also adds approximately $1 million to the School of General Studies’ financial-aid budget. Additional changes—including work-study exemptions and grants for students studying abroad—will ease the burden on students whose financial status would otherwise make it difficult for them to study abroad or pursue unpaid internships. The changes will come at a cost, but one that administrators rightfully deemed a reasonable one. Thanks to the $400 million pledge by John Kluge, CC ’37, half of which was earmarked for undergraduate financial aid, the University has deemed it safe to increase the payout rate on financial-aid endowments by about 1 percent annually, a move administrators were cautious to endorse because they would lose investment returns.

To meet the pressing need for financial-aid reform, the administration wisely reconciled its qualms over dipping into its sizable endowment—more than 7 billion dollars, though still smaller than those of certain peer institutions. These significant—but still not perfect—improvements will maintain Columbia’s competitive edge in admissions and give hard-pressed students some relief from having to work or incur debt to make ends meet. Still, aid enhancements to benefit GS students, who often attend Columbia without financial support from their parents, are long overdue. It is commendable that the University is showing a commitment to improving GS financial aid, but the new changes will not bring an end to the work that is needed. Also, because Columbia’s announcement was overshadowed by media coverage of the Governor Spitzer scandal, the University must redouble its efforts to advertise the new changes, with an eye first and foremost toward prospective students.

As part of a league of wealthy, elite institutions that constantly compete for the world’s best and brightest, Columbia must offer its students the best educational and financial support it can afford. The University’s Campaign for Undergraduate Education, which aims to raise $400 million, represents an ongoing commitment to financial aid. The reforms announced this week take that commitment in the right direction by focusing aid on those who need it most. Competitive financial aid is critical to preserving Columbia’s place as one of the nation’s leading universities. It is also the right thing to do.