Oregon Public Broadcasting

High school seniors are biting their nails this week, as college admissions officers make their decisions about the class of 2008. But this year, the top college-bound students have an extra wrinkle to think about.

Some schools, including Stanford and Harvard, are promising to pay 100-percent of tuition costs for low- and middle-class families. Ethan Lindsey reports on how that news will affect Oregon's students - and colleges.

Over the past few months, the country's best private universities have promised cut-rate or free tuition to certain students.

The latest deal comes from Stanford University. The school says it will guarantee free tuition for families making less than $100,000 a year.

Carolyn Platt's daughter is a high-school junior in Bend.

Platt has an insider view on this and not just because she's a parent.

She's also a college admissions consultant for students in central Oregon schools.

Carolyn Platt: “I meet with students to help families figure out where to go to college, what colleges fit their personalities, I teach SAT prep courses, you know, the whole shebang.”

She says while money may not be the only factor in the college decision-making process, it's a pretty big one.

Especially for students who are deciding between two or three similar schools.

Carolyn Platt: “Usually in late March or early April, financial aid packages arrive. At that point I will meet with a family and we'll lay down college A, B, and C for example. So first of all you have to determine whats in the budget, that out of pocket cost and you begin comparing those between college A, B, and C.”

So the cheaper price-tag at Stanford or the Ivy League may sway students.

And Platt says smaller, more-obscure colleges may be especially hurt by the news.

Tom Hochstettler is the president of Lewis & Clark College in Portland. He says the tuition move could be particularly harmful for Oregon.

Tom Hochstettler: “We have a highly segmented market for higher education in this state.”

The state has several top liberal arts schools, but no world-class research institutions.

Hochstettler says there are only a few students a year who end up deciding between Stanford and Lewis & Clark.

And he says there may be even fewer now.

He says big-name schools have the advantage of a cash reserve-- their endowment, which liberal arts colleges just can't match.

Tom Hochstettler: “The gifts that we receive from our donors cannot nearly compete with a place like Stanford. I just read that Stanford raised last year over $800 million. That could buy Reed College and Lewis & Clark College twice over.”

Portland's academically-rigorous and culturally-funky Reed College may be the Oregon school with the most to lose.

Reed can compete for the country's best students because of its reputation.

But the school is also proud of its policy to only give student's scholarship money based on need.

Schools like Lewis & Clark will sometimes reward better students with more money.

Colin Diver is the president of Reed.

He says for now, the school won't change its tuition philosophy.

But it is thinking about simply giving out more money.

Colin Diver: “We're not at the moment thinking of switching to a merit-based system. What we are thinking about is substituting grants for loans. And the extent to which we should be trying to make financial aid more generous.”

Educational professionals and Congress have been asking questions about the huge endowments at Harvard and other elite schools. One question really: why isn't the money being spent on students?

Diver says the big schools hope free tuition will preempt any political action.

Colin Diver: “There are some bigger picture things going on here. This may point to the unraveling of the entire pricing structure for higher education. Where it leads, I don't know. There are those in the business who think that within a generation you will see the rich universities go to zero-tuition period.”

Diver says the goal of cheaper, and more equitable education is a good one.

But from his perspective, as the head of a smaller private college, he isn't entirely confident that these developments are a step in that direction.